Skin Deep
by Vingilot
Summary: Harry and his friends create a new type of magic embodied in Harry’s tattoos to keep him protected from his uncle. When the new magic works Harry is removed to Hogwarts where Dumbledore finally tells him the truth. Severitus. Written PreHBP HarryBill
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Harry and his friends create a new type of magic embodied in Harry's tattoos to keep him protected from his uncle. When the new magic works Harry is removed to Hogwarts where Dumbledore finally tells him the truth. Severitus. Written Pre-HBP (so no spoilers). Harry/Bill.

A/N: This fic does not take into account HBP. It is the end of Harry's sixth year. No major interactions with Voldemort have taken place this year and Dumbledore is still alive. Severitus-ish (not a proper Severitus but Snape is Harry's father). Manipulative (but not evil) Dumbledore.

Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing for a while.

Ship: Harry/Bill

Warnings: mention of rape (nothing graphic, all mentions in conversations). M/M.

**Introduction: **

Harry smiled softly as he pulled his shirt back on. Glancing down one more time at his new tattoos, hope began to grow in the young man. With nearly two thirds of his body covered in tattoos of various kinds, it was difficult to pick out which ones were his latest additions. Brushing his hands over his wrists, Harry smiled again. Hopefully, this would work. Hopefully, he would be safe this summer.

The tattoos ranged from muggle-drawn images to fantastic wizard artwork to thick bands of runes. The newest tattoos fit into this last category. The final stage of his plan had been put into place with the addition of wide black bracelets of runes around his arms and ankles as well as eight-inch wide circles of runes on his chest and back.

To the passing eye, it appeared that Harry was simply covered in tattoos in a completely random manner. To the few who knew though, each one was part of a carefully designed and executed plan that culminated in today's tattoos. His older tattoos served two major purposes: the first was a simple diversion. With the sheer number of tattoos that now covered Harry's body it was difficult to the passing eye to find any meaning in any of them. This was exactly as Harry wanted—no, _needed_—it to be. He needed the distraction while he was still finalizing the last step of his plan which he had executed today. The second purpose was even more important: each tattoo helped to ground and support the work he had done today. Without something to ground the powerful spells contained within the tattoo the magic would become volatile, attacking at random.

The new tattoo, repeated six times on his body, was in fact a complex spell that Harry and his closest friends had been working on for the past three years. Before he had let them into his confidence, Harry had worked alone for two years. Without the researching skills of Hermione and Ron's strategic abilities Harry would never have been able to be done so soon.

These runes were able to do what was thought to be impossible: they bound a magical force to Harry's very skin itself, protecting Harry from dangers that his mother had been unable to foresee when she had created his initial protection. Although his mother's sacrifice helped to shield Harry from Voldemort and the Death Eaters it did little to protect him from non-magical forms of danger.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe, just maybe, this would work as planned. It would work…it _had_ to work. The consequences of failure were unthinkable. Yes, it would work. Harry refused to consider any other alternative. It would work.

This is my first fic…be gentle!


	2. Do They Work?

A/N: Thanks to my lovely reviewers. This is my first fic so I was a bit nervous. I'm going ahead and posting the next two chapters together since they move a bit slow. I needed to tie the school year up and have the obligatory describe-how-you-envision-the-characters part. Things start to move faster in chapter 4 (and the chapters get longer).   
Chapter 2 

Hermione called out from the front of the shop "Harry, we've got to go now or we'll be late!" Harry hastily replaced his concealment charms to cover his tattoos. As far as the wizarding world was concerned, Harry Potter was perfectly clean cut and would never have something like a tattoo—much less the sheer quantity that he currently had. Harry wanted to keep it that way. It would just make it that much easier to slip into a new life once the war was over.

Harry stepped out of the back room and immediately saw Ron and Hermione waiting anxiously for him. Ron's ill-concealed concern was soothed by Harry's slight smile. Smiles had grown increasingly rare for the boy who lived and Ron's worry had grown almost daily. "Let's go, mate. We can test it later tonight at Hogwarts" Ron hurried Harry along.

"Do you think they worked? Do you feel any different?"

Harry paused to think. "No, Hermione, I can't feel anything that is actually different, I just have this general feeling that…I don't know. I just feel certain that they work."

Hermione squealed and threw her arms around Ron in lieu of hugging Harry. Although Harry had grown more comfortable around his closest friends he was still hesitant to have any unnecessary touch. "I _knew_ we got it right! I worried for a bit about that sixty-second rune but I knew it would work! We should write up our findings and publish them. I can't believe how many books were wrong about embodying spells. We have completely changed how the books—"

"Hermione, the whole point of all of this was to keep Harry's privacy. Publishing an article, no matter how small or vague, will automatically expose him."

"Of course. I'm sorry Harry, I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean…"

Harry cut her off. "I understand. You did a lot of work. You should be proud. I'm sorry that you can't be recognized for it."

"Oh Harry, I don't care about the recognition. You know me. I get so excited about new information that my brain runs away with me. Nothing is as important to us as keeping you safe." She could see that the topic had grown distasteful to her small friend and she swiftly changed to a less problematic topic. "Did you two hear that Lavender had a date today with Blaise Zabini? I can't believe he actually asked her out."

"I wonder what he wants with her. What is he trying to get?"

"Honestly Ronald, not all Slytherins are bad. Maybe he just likes her. She's liked him for long enough. Maybe he heard she had a crush on him and decided to go ahead and ask her out."

"Of all the Slytherins in our year, he does seem the safest. Not to mention Lav can defend herself if she needs to" Harry quietly reminded Ron.

"Maybe. Just seems strange to me."

"Not everything is a plot Ron. I'm sure everything will be fine. And Lavender was so excited this morning getting ready. She must have changed four times!"

"She's nutters. Who gets dressed up for a Slytherin?"

Hermione and Harry exchanged glances and decided to just let it drop. It would take a lot for their friend to learn to look past his prejudices.

The trio slipped in the front doors just on time. Filch glared menacingly but was unable to penalize them and so he slipped away, muttering about ill-behaved children.

"Right. Dinner first, then the tests?" Ron proposed as his stomach grumbled loudly.

"Honestly, all you ever think of is food. You may be right though to put food first this time. It would be better to wait until later though to test the new…spells" Hermione whispered back.

Harry quickly sat down in a section of the table that was nearly deserted. Ron and Hermione separated and sat on either side of him, preventing any overeager students from claiming a seat next to The Boy Who Lived. Neville and Ginny moved down to sit across from the trio. Harry was effectively blockaded in by his friends—something that he needed badly. The sheer level of casual touch that happened around him was astounding, everyone wanting to be near the Boy Who Lived. The four students had taken their decision to protect Harry very seriously, and they trailed after him nearly every minute. At first it had driven Harry nearly to distraction but he slowly realized that this was their way of showing their love and support. He grudgingly accepted their constant presence and now had grown to enjoy the never ceasing companionship.

"How was your date Ginny?" Harry inquired.

"OK, I guess. I don't know. I think I am rather done with him. I'm so tired of Ravenclaws. Honestly, don't they ever do anything but study? I swear, Terry would read during sex if he could!"

Ron made gagging noises as Neville and Harry laughed. "Do you have to talk about sex Ginny? You're my baby sister!" Ron had never quite gotten over the fact that his baby sister was not quite a baby anymore.

"It is hardly my fault that you choose to sit here. Who am I supposed to talk to about this but Harry and Hermione?" Ginny replied tartly. She was pleased to note though that Harry was laughing. A big weight seemed to have been removed from him. Ginny didn't know any details, but she knew that as the year drew to a close that he worried constantly about returning to the Dursley's. She had never been told what exactly he faced there, but she knew from the bit she had overheard last summer that his uncle was to blame for all of it.

"I can't believe you stole Harry from me and corrupted him with your girly gossip! At the rate you're going you'll have ruined all the decent blokes at Hogwarts by the time you graduate. Between the list of your ex-boyfriends that won't talk to me anymore and your theft of my only decent Quidditch friend I'll soon be the only one left talking to me!" Ron didn't really mind Harry's friendship with Ginny. After the problems during Ginny's first year she had trouble making friends in her year, especially with her dorm mates. Likewise, Harry had trouble making close friends. Although everyone wanted to be his friend he was incredibly hesitant to place any level of trust in anyone. Although he numbered Ginny and Neville as his friends even they didn't know any details about Harry's life with the muggles or their secret project.

"You know, talking to yourself is one of the first signs of insanity" Neville deadpanned. A few years back Neville would have been hesitant to join into the conversation but with a new wand, additional training and some newly discovered courage; Neville had changed dramatically since their first year. He had grown enormously and now excelled at Charms and DADA in addition to Herbology and was able to amaze even Snape by his newfound proficiency at potions. By no means a natural, Neville could now no longer be blamed for the most explosions in their year.

Hermione, likewise, had grown up in the last year. At 5'7" she was now tall and willowy. Her hair had finally gotten under control and she had grown into one of the prettiest witches in their year. She had also finally learned to balance a social life with an academic life slightly better and was currently engaged in a strange sort of relationship with Ron. Although neither claimed the other as their significant other, the whole school knew they were off limits.

Ginny, likewise, had grown and stood 5'9". Ron was still shocked almost daily by how much she had grown up but Harry and Hermione had been expecting it. Her brothers were all extremely tall as well and they were both more than capable of recognizing Ginny as the young woman that she was rather than seeing a little girl.

Ron had continued to shoot up during the last year and he now towered over Harry by almost a foot. Harry had, unfortunately, stopped growing at 5'2"…something caused, no doubt, by continued malnutrition and his cramped living quarters at the Dursley's. Harry was the shortest one in his year—including the girls. He was, in fact, shorter than all of the fifth years, most fourth years and many third years. Few people realized exactly how small he was—one of the perks of being extraordinarily famous was that people looked at him and saw what they wanted to see, and somehow, no one wanted a short, malnourished hero.

Dumbledore looked out over the students and his eyes stopped at Harry and his friends. 'Poor boy. I wish there was something I could do about the Dursley's but he needs them. Too bad, really. Ah well, I'm sure all will be well in the end. It is unfortunate that such sacrifices must be made in the course of war. No war is pretty though. I'm sure he understands.'

Harry, Hermione and Ron got up as one and exited the Great Hall in an effort to find a quiet place to test the new tattoos.


	3. Does Dumbledore Know?

Chapter 3 

Ron entered the dorm room, trying to find Harry. He spotted Harry sitting on his truck, staring vacantly at the floor. This was never a good sign. While Harry was able to put on the Golden Boy show for the rest of the world, he occasionally slipped out of it. When he fell out of the role, he fell far. He would enter states of catatonia—sometimes for minutes—sometimes for days. No one ever knew what exactly started these reactions and Ron was always scared to ask about it once Harry had recovered.

"You ready to go to the feast mate?" Ron asked anxiously, trying to pull Harry back to reality. He repeated himself twice before he noticed any change in Harry.

Harry finally looked up at Ron with completely hollow eyes and blinked a few times. "Is it time already?"

"More than. We need to hurry to make it there in time for the speeches. Let's go!"

"Yes, yes. In a minute" Harry replied absently, running his fingers over his perfectly clear wrists. He kept a glamour on his skin at all times…at the beginning of the year in order to cover the cuts and bruised and throughout the year to keep his tattoos concealed. After all, The Boy Who Lived couldn't _possibly_ have any tattoos.

"It will be all right Harry. We know the tattoos work and you can come stay with me when you need to. You know mum loves it when you stay. And I'm sure someone else would like to see you" Ron slyly slipped in.

Harry forced a small smile which fooled no one. "We're going to be late! Get down here boys!" Hermione called out from the bottom of the stairs. "Don't make me come up there!"

"We'd better go, mate. Don't want her to get her panties in a twist. Don't worry. It will all work out."

"Yeah. Sure. I guess I'm ready then."

The trio made their way quickly to the Great Hall and had just gained their seats when the Headmaster stood up to give his traditional end of year announcements. "This year I am proud to award the house cup to Hufflepuff!" Cheers rang out from the Hufflepuff table and some confused clapping came from a majority of the Ravenclaws and a few Gryffindors. Hufflepuff won for the first time in decades, largely due to the squabbling between Gryffindor and Slytherin that had reached an all new high this year. Ravenclaw mainly stayed out of the whole mess which neither gained nor lost points. It was the quiet Hufflepuffs who came out on top then for trying to break up fights and helping to prevent some.

Harry's attention faded in and out throughout the speech. "I would remind you that we are at war…" _Honestly, isn't it obvious that we are at war? How could anyone forget that?_ Harry thought furiously. "Voldemort" (shudders spread across the hall) "will stop at nothing to…" Harry was almost completely lost in his thoughts when he was rather violently pulled out of them by Dumbledore's next statement. "I would ask all of you to stay where you are safe this summer. Do not attempt to leave without express permission. Have a nice summer!" With that ridiculous platitude Dumbledore sat down and the food appeared.

Hermione nervously turned to Harry. "Do you think he knows? Did he somehow find out?"

Harry remained silent, thinking it over. Ron jumped in. "He can't know. I mean, can he? We did everything off the grounds and some of it was even done in muggle London. How could he possibly know?"

"I don't think he knows everything, but I think that he suspects."

"Oh Harry, what are you going to do?" Hermione anxiously asked.

"Nothing. I'm just going to let this play out however it does. Maybe I won't even need the protection after all. I grew a little bit this year. Maybe he won't…" he let the words fade away as they all thought about the implications. Each knew that it was highly unlikely that he would be safe without the new spells.

"Don't worry about it. You are safe now and he'll just have to deal with it if the Dursley's ask you to leave." Ron's words of advice might have seemed a bit flippant but he knew that Harry needed a friend right now, not someone to analyze exactly how bad his situation was and then point out the ways in which it could get worse. They all knew that there were many, many ways in which Harry's uncle could hurt him without touching him. They just had to pray that Vernon didn't resort to any of those.

"You will owl me often, won't you Harry?"

"Of course, Hermione. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Harry's stomach clenched as he thought of what he faced at home. He could do this. He had protection this time. Everything would be fine.


	4. A Late Night Call

A/N: Thanks to the reviewer who told me I was only accepting signed reviews. I didn't know that I had to change a setting for that and had no idea! I had assumed that it would automatically accept all reviews and it was only picky authors who switched it to only accept signed ones. Oops. Hope I have it set up right now. Sorry! 

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Chapter 4 

"Headmaster? Headmaster? Are you there?"

Dumbledore looked up from the stack of paperwork he was sorting through in surprise. It was rare for someone to contact him this late in the evening during the summer holidays. He turned to the fire and saw Molly Weasley.

"What can I help you with my dear?"

"Harry has just shown up at the Burrow. No doubt there have been more problems with those muggles of his. I just thought you ought to know where he was."

"Harry is there? With you? When did he arrive?"

"Not ten minutes ago. He came by the Knight Bus, poor dear. Looked exhausted too, and even more thin than usual. A good hot meal should help that out."

"Did he say why he came? Any explanation at all?"

"Well, he didn't go into any detail, mind you, but he did mention something about a spell working…but come to think, he hasn't had his birthday yet so I must have misunderstood him."

"Could you send him here? I need to speak with him."

"Of course, Headmaster. Just a moment."

Molly's head withdrew from the flames and Dumbledore stared pensively into the flames. Perhaps it was now time to reveal a little more of the plan. Yes, the timing seemed right. He quickly jotted a note and gave it to a house elf to deliver. Yes, things were progressing nicely.

The flames turned green again and Harry stumbled out of the fireplace. "You wanted to see me headmaster?"

"Yes, my boy. Why did you leave the Dursley's?"

"Because I couldn't stay any longer" Harry explained shortly.

"And why would that be?"

"Because they forbid it."

"What happened?"

"I got tired of it all. This summer I had some additional protection and it was needed this evening. Once Vernon was incapacitated I packed up and left."

"I see. Did they actually forbid you to return or did you just assume that you should not go back?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore incredulously. Was he actually being serious? Had he not just explained that something happened with his uncle that was bad enough to incapacitate him? "Yes sir. They expressly told me to never set foot on their property again." Gods, how embarrassing. Being kicked out by your only living relatives. Even people he was related to didn't want him.

"I see. Well I suppose you will have to stay here this summer."

"Here? Why can't I stay with Ron?"

"Now Harry, that is hardly fair to the Weasleys. They have so little and you ask them to share it with you…"

"I see" Harry said quietly. Dumbledore hid a smirk. It was too easy to play the boy as he wanted to.

"Don't you think Ron deserves a little time out of the shadow of his famous friend?"

"I see."

"And they don't have near enough protection to house you there. What would you do if you were attacked? If the Burrow was under fire? If one of the Weasleys were _killed_ because you selfishly wanted to stay by your friend?"

"I see." Harry spoke in a bare whisper. "I guess that you are right. Shall I go to the tower then?"

"No, no, my dear boy. That wouldn't be at all acceptable. No, we shall find other accommodations for you. I believe that it would do nicely to place you with one of our other summer residents. Please enter, Severus."

Harry turned in shock to find Severus Snape standing outside the door. Gods, could this day get any worse? Snape sneered down at Harry then turned to Dumbledore. "You wanted to see me, Albus?" Over the past year their relationship had smoothed out a bit and Harry and the Potions Master had resigned themselves largely to ignoring the other's existence.

"Yes my dear boy. I wished to discuss Harry's summer lodgings. His home at the Dursley's has been found unacceptable. He will be staying here at Hogwarts until the school year starts."

"I see. Why am I involved?"

"I thought it would be ideal for him to use your guest bedroom. After all, a young boy can't be left completely to his own devices, can he?" Snape refused to dignify this statement with a response.

"Headmaster, you cannot be serious. We'd kill each other!" For once, Snape looked like he agreed completely with Harry.

"It really is all for the best. I'm sure you'll get along splendidly."

"I'm sure we'll be at each other's throats. Please headmaster, let me stay in the tower."

"No, that would be quite unacceptable. I'm sure you will learn to live together."

Snape cleared his throat. "If I may, Albus, could the boy" he absently noted Harry flinch "not stay in guest quarters on the first floor?"

"You know full well Severus that your rooms have the highest level of security in the school. Who better to protect him?"

Snape barely caught Harry's muttered "interfering old coot" and hid a smirk. His thoughts exactly. "I see. I'm not going to have a choice in this am I? Don't just stand there boy" again, the flinch…he would have to investigate this at a later date, "I don't have all day."

"I'm afraid I will need to see you both again in the morning. With events being what they are, I feel the need to show you both something. Please return after breakfast and we can have our little chat." Both Harry and Severus made ill-concealed snorts. Little chat indeed. "Have a good evening, gentlemen."

Harry looked at Snape hesitantly, tightening and relaxing his grip on his bag compulsively. "Well come along, Potter" Snape said as he swiftly left the room. Harry tossed his bag over his shoulder and hurried to catch up. He had no idea where the Potions Master's private rooms were and he knew that if the got separated that Snape would not go to look for him. He had to jog to keep up with Snape's long stride. Either the Potions Master did not notice how short Harry's legs were or he did not care. By the time they stopped in front of a portrait in the dungeons Harry was panting.

The portrait opened at Snape's glare and he swiftly stepped inside, once again leaving Harry to catch up. Harry hesitantly stepped into the room. Although the room was dark it was not as bad as he had originally believed it would be. Deep blue seemed to dominate the room with snatches of cream and green.

Snape sneered at Harry's obvious curiosity. "If you're quite finished with your inspection we can proceed to your room."

"Yes sir." They proceeded down the hallway on the left, completely ignoring the doors on the right side of the sitting room which presumably led to a kitchen and lab.

"This is the bathroom which we, unfortunately, will be sharing. Don't touch anything that is mine. This is my bedroom which you will never enter. Do try to contain your curiosity. I will know if you have been in there and you do not want to consider the consequences of disobeying me. This will be your room." With that Snape turned a doorknob at the end of the hall. The door opened into a small but nicely furnished room. Again, it was dark but not the unrelenting black that Harry had expected. This room was a slightly lighter blue with silver accents. It sure beat anything the Dursleys would ever give him.

"Thank you, sir."

"Do not wander around. Do not enter any room that you are forbidden to enter. Do not touch my things. Do not go poking your nose where it does not belong. The Headmaster may tolerate your undying curiosity but I will not. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well then." Without another word Snape turned and left the room. _Well this should be an interesting summer. _Harry thought. _Maybe we actually can learn to get along. He wasn't _that_ bad today. Yes, I think there was a definite improvement over his usual behavior. This summer just might turn out all right._ Harry set his bag down by the dresser and stripped down to his boxers to sleep. He glanced down at his unmarked skin and grimaced. He couldn't wait for the day that The Boy Who Lived could finally be who he wanted to be. He couldn't wait to stop hiding.


	5. The Betrayal

Chapter 5 

Harry woke early, as usual. He quietly slipped on pants and a long sleeved T-shirt. Although his tattoos were covered with a glamour he preferred to keep his arms covered at all times in case his glamour stopped working for some reason. He went to the door to listen and see if Snape was up yet. He couldn't hear anything, but then Snape could move like a shadow when he felt like it. Praying that Snape was still asleep and he wouldn't have to deal with the snarky potions master this early in the morning, Harry slipped out of his room and down the hall.

The sight of the potions master sitting at the table greeted him as soon as he entered the kitchen. Reigning in a sigh, Harry proceeded to the counter to pour a cup of coffee. It seemed that the professors could still cook for themselves the muggle way if they chose to do so. Harry was curious whether the house elves were on vacation too during the summer but he refrained from asking. _I can just imagine his reaction if I actually spoke to him_.

Snape finally looked up from the paper to see Harry standing by the counter sipping a cup of coffee. _Of course_, he thought, _there is only one chair that isn't covered in books or papers_. He sighed and flicked his wand to create another chair. "Thanks professor." Snape grunted. _Must not be a morning person. Not really an afternoon or evening person either though. I wonder what Snape's good time of the day actually is?_

The two continued their breakfast, Harry just nibbling on a piece of toast. After a week of almost nonexistent meals at the Dursleys it would take some time to stretch his stomach back out. Finally, Snape cleared his throat. "We need to go to the Headmaster's office this morning. How much more time do you require to ready yourself?"

"I'm ready now."

"You don't wish to change?"

"These are the best clothes I have, sir."

"I see. Very well then." Although Snape sounded as if he were going to let the issue go he flicked his wand again and shrunk Dudley's enormous castoffs to fit Harry. Harry was not only much shorter than his cousin but he was also very thin. He had small, wiry muscles and only slightly broadened shoulders that kept him from looking completely like a child but his overall smallness was startling. With his almost shoulder length hair he had a slightly androgynous look that appealed to many of Hogwarts' young men. To their shock, Harry had never been known to date any of them. In fact, no one could name a single person of either sex that Harry had really dated.

"Thank you sir."

"Come along then." Harry smiled. Of course the potions master had to maintain his surly exterior. He was starting to like the professor's snarkiness. At least it was predictable.

The men approached the Headmaster's office slowly. It seemed that both of them were dreading this meeting. What could the Headmaster possibly have to say to them—together? What could possibly concern both of them? The door swung open without even giving the password and the two stepped onto the moving stairs. The Headmaster opened this door as well without waiting for a knock.

"Come in, come in gentlemen. I trust that you had a good night?"

Snape again chose a grunt as an appropriate response to such an inane question. "Yes sir." Harry attempted to be more polite but felt that he was already at the breaking point. Whatever news the Headmaster was going to give them could not be good. He never called Harry to his office anymore unless he was giving bad news. What could it be this time?

Harry was pulled from his thoughts by Dumbledore's invitation to sit. Snape gracefully sat down in the chair on the right and Harry rushed to the chair on the left. "Now gentlemen, I believe I told you last night that I had something new to reveal to you both. I believe that the easiest way to do so would be to show you both a certain memory." Dumbledore turned to the cabinet behind him and removed a large pensieve with a swirling silver memory already in place. "I am perhaps slightly overdue in revealing this to you but all will happen in its time. If you don't mind, gentlemen, perhaps you should jump right in?"

Harry looked at the memory nervously. 'All will happen in its time?' What the hell did that mean? It could be anything. He would have preferred some sort of introduction, a bit of background information. Evidently he wouldn't get that. He took a shaky breath and extended his hand alongside Snape's.

The two men were sucked into an office that looked surprisingly like the office they were currently in. Apart from a few changes, it was, in fact, the same office. They turned as one toward the desk and saw a younger Dumbledore sitting behind the desk. Harry looked around for their Dumbledore but evidently he hadn't deigned to enter the memory. "Looks like we are on our own, sir."

Snape sneered. "Of course. Merlin forbid he actually come along and explain something." Harry gave a sort of half smile and quickly turned as the door slammed open. He nearly collapsed when he realized that the nervous young woman was his mother. Snape instantly paled. Lily paced back and forth in front of the headmaster's desk for a few moments in silence then suddenly turned to him.

"Headmaster, I need your assistance."

"My dear child, what can I do for you?"

"I'm pregnant."

The twinkle left Dumbledore's eyes. "Does James know?"

"It is not James' baby" Lily quickly informed the headmaster.

"I see. Will you tell me who is the father?"

"I'm sure you know, headmaster." Dumbledore nodded slowly. Lily sat for a moment, collecting her thoughts. Harry stared on in fascination and Snape with growing horror. "I will not allow a death eater to raise my child." Harry blinked in confusion. His mind was completely unable to process the facts as quickly as they were being presented.

"Surely you can raise the child without him, either here in the magical world or in the muggle world. I hear that is quite common for muggles."

"That is not the problem, headmaster. I would love to leave here with my child and never look back but I believe we both know that I do not have that luxury."

"Have the dreams still continued?" Lily nodded. "And is the meaning quite clear?" Again, Lily gave a jerky nod.

"I will not live until this child's second birthday. He must have someone to care for him. Someone I know I can trust to love him and raise him properly. I cannot rest until I know, for certain, that I have fulfilled my duty as a mother to care for my child. I only have a year—a year and a half at most—in which to show my child all the love I have for him. I must continue my love through my choice of a guardian."

"Yes, yes, of course. Tell me, do you plan on the guardian simply being a godparent or do you intend to marry?"

"Marriage would be the most fool proof. I cannot take any chances."

"I see. And who have you considered?"

"Michael in Ravenclaw or else James in Gryffindor."

"James Potter?" Lily nodded. "He seems rather ideal. He would lend the child a pureblood name and he definitely has the wealth to properly care for the baby. He has also been chasing after you for years. He would do anything you asked of him. Yes, I believe he would be ideal."

"I will go speak with him now and beg his protection."

"I'm sure you need not beg anything. I'm sure he will jump at the chance to be with you, even if it is to rear another man's child."

"Headmaster" Lily replied in a broken whisper, "there is nothing I will not do for my child. If it requires me getting on my knees to beg sanctuary of a man I do not love then so be it. I will do what I must to protect him. I fear that there is nothing I can do though to keep him safe from his father's kind. Even with a pureblood father he will still have a mudblood mother." Her eyes filled with tears at the ugly word. "He will never be safe. I know it within my heart. My child will be hunted by those who follow Voldemort for his entire life."

"I'm sure that Severus would never allow his…companions…to injure your child."

Lily looked up at the headmaster with deadened eyes. "You have more faith than I. Good day."

The memory ended and Harry and Snape were spit back into the Headmaster's office. Snape stared at Dumbledore in horror. Harry's mind seemed to finally click back into gear and all the pieces began to come together. He finally understood the full implications of the meeting he had just witnessed. "You knew? All this time…you knew?" Harry rasped out.

"Well, as you can see, your mother did not intend for you two to know about each other. I believe she even placed a charm on you so that you would take on the likeness of James. Quite a good job she did with it, I do believe." Dumbledore's cheeriness sparked a nearly murderous rage in Snape and complete disbelief in Harry. Before Snape could gather his anger together enough to form a coherent sentence Harry spoke again.

"You knew, and yet you still made me stay with the Dursleys?" Harry could not move on from this idea. It was too horrific.

"My dear boy, what could I have done? Your father could not provide you the protection that you gained from the Dursleys. I needed to keep you safe. I suppose that did not turn out quite as well as I had thought it would though. Dear me, no."

"Not turned out well?" He whispered hoarsely. "You knew what he was doing to me, and you still thought it best I stay there?" Harry's questions were filled with such despair that it made Snape flinch. He was still trying to comprehend all that had happened as well as Harry's unusual reaction. This reaction was not at all what he would have expected from the Gryffindor. He had expected shouting and tears and accusations. Instead he was getting a sense of mind numbing despair and betrayal.

"Harry, I thought it was for the best. I made the decision I did and I still stick by it. I would make it again if I had to."

Harry suddenly turned pale and started gagging. He turned to the trashcan and lost what little breakfast he had been able to force down earlier. The headmaster knew, he knew it all, and he had still forced him to stay there. He knew he had a living parent and he refused to reunite them. He knew what Vernon did to him but he kept his secrets anyhow. Oh gods, what would he do? There truly was no one he could trust. Was Dumbledore really any better than Voldemort? Voldemort may have killed his parents but he did not make the decision to place him in the care of monsters.

"What is wrong with him? What have you done?" Snape might not like Harry Potter but he had realized over the past year or so that Harry was not who he thought he was. He had observed him closely over the last year and found himself completely unable to explain the phenomenon of Harry Potter. At times the perfect Gryffindor Golden Boy and by turns a scared teen, he had realized that, like himself, Harry was the consummate actor. His curiosity as to what the real Harry was like was never assuaged but the mystery still fascinated him. Even if he hadn't started changing his mind about Harry he would have defended him. No one hurt a Snape.

"I believe that Harry is upset because him home life was not quite as nice as we would have liked." Harry gagged again. "Yes well, I'm sure it built character."

At this point Harry collapsed on the floor, pale and shaking. Snape walked over to him and stood behind is shuddering back. He did not yet understand exactly what was going on with Harry but he was furious with the Headmaster just on the information that he had already received. He required no additional evidence to fully damn Albus. "You have my resignation. I will pack my things and remove my son from the premises within the hour."

"I'm afraid that you cannot do that, Severus. If you will remember, you signed a contract to remain at Hogwarts until any progeny you may or may not have completed their education. Harry still has another year left."

Snape seethed inwardly. How could he have possibly conceived this eventuality when he signed the stupid contract seventeen years ago? "Fine" he bit out. "We will be leaving nonetheless for the remainder of the summer."

"But my child, how will you protect him?"

"The Snape family has our ways. Leave me to worry about it. We will leave in a few days. I must allow my house elves some time to prepare for us and to check the security."

"But there is no Snape manor for you to take him to…where will you take him?"

"Just because you know of no Snape manor but that does not mean that there is not one. I placed the manor into defense mode when I joined the death eaters. No one without Snape blood can gain entry. Currently, the number of living Snapes rests at two. We will be quite safe there."

Harry shakily stood and swayed for a moment before he gained his equilibrium. Snape ushered him to the door and Harry gratefully preceded him down the stairs. He couldn't even look at the Headmaster. This was the worst betrayal of all…worse than the ministry, worse than Peter Pettigrew. He had no words to describe this new treachery. His head swam. His thoughts were rushing so quickly he could scarcely grasp one before it was replaced by another.

"Don't you two wish for me to remove the glamour?"

Snape paused for a moment but did not turn back. Dumbledore took this as an affirmation and he pointed his wand at Harry's back while chanting a long string of Latin. Harry's body glowed a bright white for a moment and then the light became blinding. When the light dimmed again Harry was, once again, in a puddle on the floor. Snape bent down and carefully gathered his son into his arms.

What horrors could his child have lived through with his relatives to merit that kind of a reaction? There was no hatred for Snape, no disbelief or anger that James Potter was not his father. Instead, his reaction had been complete horror that the headmaster had not told the two sooner. Dear Merlin, what could have happened?

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A/N: Ok, so I couldn't quite stomach the whole letter-magically-delivered-16-years-later bit and I tend to find the secret diary or letter-hidden-in-a-book bit just as nauseating. I opted for the only slightly less abused pensieve memory to provide the evidence. Sorry I couldn't come up with a totally new way to do it. Please review!


	6. The Discovery

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers. It has been very encouraging reading your notes. I believe that I turned on the capability of getting unsigned reviews but all I have received so far have been signed—either everyone who felt like reviewing was already signed in or else I still have it messed up.   
If I am still only accepting signed reviews can someone let me know in a review? Sorry to ask it of you guys but I do tend to get confused with the slightly more high tech computer things (I was an English major for a reason). 

Enjoy!

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Chapter 6 

Snape lay his son down on his bed in the spare bedroom. _No_, Snape thought,_ his son's room_. Harry had not yet stirred. Severus examined him closely, noting the changes. He seemed to have grown a bit, but it was doubtful that he even passed 5'5". Odd, considering that Severus himself was 6'4" and Lily had been tall as well. His face had lost the tiny bit of roundness that it had maintained throughout the years, despite how thin Harry was. His eyebrows had arched more and his jaw had hardened. Thankfully, he had not inherited Snape's nose.

His shoulders seemed a bit broader although he was still very small. At least his delicateness was now countered by some more masculine traits like his broader shoulders and slightly altered facial structure. Harry now presented a strange but appealing mixture of masculine and feminine. His new looks were almost elvish in quality with the blend of strong but delicate features.

His hair seemed both darker and lighter. He had definitely inherited the darkness of Snape's hair but it now had deep red highlights. It too seemed a bit longer than before—extending now to around his shoulder blades. His hands had lengthened and he now had Snape's long, thin fingers. His skin had remained the honey color that it was before. Snape knew that his skin looked like that when he actually took a break from his potions work and went into the sun.

The changes were definitely present and obvious. Unless someone knew it, they would never know that this boy was Harry Potter. Harry's eyes fluttered open and he let out a low groan. "Are you feeling alright?" Snape asked anxiously.

Harry cringed away from the voice and blinked up at his father in confusion for a moment while his memories and his thoughts caught up to each other. He finally looked away. "Yes, I am fine." His voice had deepened a bit and was nearly as silky as Snape's. Harry seemed a bit startled at this but he showed little outside reaction. It seemed that the only easily read reaction Snape was able to pull from his son was that of fear.

Snape looked a bit disappointed at Harry's reaction but reminded himself to be patient. He has been alone for far too long and discovering that he did, in fact, have family was a welcome revelation. Although he was furious about the manner in which he had been told he was still pleased with the overall result. He had long wanted a son, especially after he had seen a heavily pregnant Lily in Diagon Alley. He had barely been able to contain his jealousy when he saw Potter put his arm around Lily's waist. He was angry at the time because that should be _him._ Hell, now he knew it really _should_ have been him.

Now he just needed to get to know his son. Perhaps Harry was not the son he would have chosen for himself but once he knew him better the might change his mind. Hopefully, Harry would allow that. Judging by his reactions in the office he was more opposed to his muggle family than he was to the idea of his greasy potions professor as a father.

"I must go and contact my house elves and ask them to prepare the manor. It should be ready by this evening." Severus wished the words hadn't come out quite as harshly as they had but he shrugged it off. He was a man of few words, in the best of situations. His son should get used to it now.

"I thought you said it would take a few days."

"I didn't want to risk Dumbledore stopping us. Right now he no doubt thinks that the house elves are faced with a few days of hard labor to make the manor habitable again after being closed for nearly twenty years. They will actually need less than one day. This way we can slip out before he even knows to keep an eye on us."

"I see." Harry seemed to take a sort of perverse pleasure out of tricking the Headmaster. _Clearly, in this, he was like his father_ Snape mused.

"I will return in a moment and we can pack our things. Only bring that which cannot be replaced. The manor will have all of our necessities." Snape quickly walked out of the room to go into the study and contact his house elves. Harry looked around the room slowly. He needed to wash again. Back there, in the headmaster's office, he was vividly reminded of it all. He needed to wash it away again.

Everyone in Gryffindor knew that Harry was almost a compulsive washer. He typically took two or more showers a day—reaching four or five on game days. They didn't even comment on it anymore.

Harry quickly grabbed a towel and hurried to the bathroom. Perhaps he could get done before his father finished talking with the house elves. He didn't want Snape to know about…everything. Knowing about the showers would lead to questions about life with the Dursleys and knowing about life with the Dursleys would lead to the much dreaded looks of pity. He shuddered. No, he needed to keep it from his father for as long as possible. If Snape found out now then he wouldn't want him anymore. Or maybe he would want him…did real father's treat their sons as Vernon treated him? Harry shuddered again. He didn't want to find out.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he made it to the bathroom without any questioning. He stripped out of his clothes and threw them in the hamper. He stepped under the steaming hot water and began to vigorously scrub his body. He could never get clean enough.

Meanwhile, Snape had finished his conversation with Mindy, his personal house elf. They were even more prepared than he had thought they would be. It would only be a matter of a few hours before everything would be ready. He rushed to his bedroom, pausing for a moment by the bathroom door. _Strange_ he thought. _Didn't Harry already shower?_ He shook his head and went on to his room. He knew that the manor would provide him with most of his necessities but there were a few things that he wanted to bring anyhow.

Just as he finished packing a few desired items he heard the shower turn off. He stepped into the hallway to catch his son and tell him that they would be leaving shortly. As the bathroom door opened the hall filled momentarily with steam. Once it cleared he got a good look at his son and his jaw dropped.

Harry had forgotten to bring a change of clothes with him to the bathroom and the hamper had already magically removed his dirty ones. After a short deliberation he simply wrapped a towel around his waist to make the trip back to his room. After the steam cleared he caught sight of his father who was staring at him, absolutely gobsmacked.

Finally, Snape found words. "Where did you…when did you get all of those tattoos?"

Harry quickly looked down. Damn it. He hadn't noticed that his own glamour had failed when Dumbledore had removed his mother's. He sighed. Looks like the conversation was necessary after all. Luckily the look in his professor's eyes was one of shock rather than lust. At least that question was answered. "Over the past four years I've gotten a few tattoos."

"A few? Harry, you're covered damn near head to toe. Why do you have so many?"

"I needed a bit more protection" Harry hedged. "I got the idea a while ago and then after a bit or work, recently was able to finalize my plan."

"And how do tattoos protect you?" Snape asked dryly. Honestly, the boy must think he was completely ignorant. Tattoos bringing protection, indeed!

"The runes are actually a spell. The other tattoos serve to ground the magic."

Snape drew in a sharp breath. That shouldn't be possible. Had his son made such an enormous magical breakthrough and told no one? He decided to figure that out later, right now he needed to know what the damn things did. "What spell is it?"

"A spell I created. It basically shocks someone with varying degrees of electricity depending on the transgression."

"Why on earth would you want to be able to do that?"

"I don't like to be touched" Harry replied softly, clearly hoping that the conversation would end soon.

Snape took this in. He didn't quite know what to say to that. He decided to try a different angle. "When did you finish the tattoos?"

"In May."

"And no one touched you between May and right now?" He quickly thought back over his interactions with Harry since he had arrived at Hogwarts. Although he had come close to touching him a few times he had never actually touched his skin, even when he had picked him up to carry him to their quarters. Harry's ridiculously long sleeves had covered his arms completely and he had worn long pants. "No one discovered it?" His incredulity was growing.

"My uncle did."

"I see. Is that why you left?"

Harry hesitated for a moment. "Yes." Snape started thinking quickly. He needed better answers and he was not entirely certain how to gain them. He needed to move carefully. It wouldn't do to scare the boy. Harry had been answering his questions with truths and half-truths, Snape could tell through his legilimency. Although he had not actively probed Harry's mind he was able to instantly spot lies and partial truths. He feared though that if he pushed too hard then Harry would switch to outright lies.

"Why did you originally start work on this project? Who did you need protection from?"

Harry paused for a longer time. He finally said softly "my uncle."

"I see. Why did you need protection from him?"

The pause was so long this time that Snape was certain that Harry wasn't going to reply. He finally tuned his face away from Snape and started speaking. "My uncle has…unnatural…desires. He…" his words faded out. Snape closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Surely he had misunderstood his son. Surely he didn't mean what he thought he meant. His own uncle? And Dumbledore knew? He knew and he still thought Harry was better there than with his own father? He stamped down his growing rage. As angry as he was at such an insult (honestly, preferring a child molesting muggle over him, dark mark or not) he didn't want to scare Harry off. He would never get his answers then. He held onto a last thread of hope. Perhaps he had misunderstood him after all.

"When did it start?"

Harry gave a broken laugh. "As long as I can remember. It only got really bad when I turned eight though." Eight. Gods. Eight years old. Who could rape an eight-year-old child? Eight.

"You started on this project when you entered the wizarding world?"

"As soon as I learned of magic I thought that I would be safe, that I could defend myself. Physical defense is useless when I am fighting against a man that outweighs me by over 200 pounds but magical defense…magic was something that Vernon couldn't do. I quickly learned though that we were not allowed to practice magic outside of school. I immediately started researching a way to use magic without actually using it."

"And you came up with the plan of simply embodying it?"

"I actually bound the magic to my body—my skin, in fact—rather than embodying it, as such."

"I see." Merlin, Snape was still speechless.

"May I go get dressed, sir?" Harry was starting to sound desperate.

Snape waved him on to his room. "Yes, yes, of course. Please come out to the sitting room when you are finished though. I wish to talk about a few things." Harry took a deep breath and tried to relax. Snape saw that Harry was not going to walk past him any time soon, especially when in such a vulnerable state of undress. He closed his eyes briefly, wishing all the evils of hell onto Dumbledore. He stepped back into his room and closed the door. He listed closely and heard Harry rush past the closed door and down the hallway to his room. The door was shut firmly and locked. His own son felt the need to actually bar him from his room.

Gods. What was he going to do? How could he possibly go about fixing this? Damn it, you can't _fix_ this. There was no fixing of it. But how could he even help his son? His son was so broken that he could not even stand human touch. To have created a spell that repels all human touch…his son was far more damaged than he had initially thought. His spell could have simply repelled his uncle's touch but evidently that was not enough for him to feel safe. To deny himself of human touch…Snape simply could not get over it. As much as he personally disliked people in general even he would never do such a thing willingly. What was he going to do? He took a deep breath, straightened his robes, and opened his door again to go wait for his son in the sitting room.

His son. How strange those words felt! He had simply been glad to have Harry for himself but he now realized how much Harry needed him. He needed to proceed carefully, but perhaps the two could make things work. Maybe he could finally have a real family. First though, he needed to help his son.


	7. A Bit of Explanation

Chapter 7 

Harry cautiously opened his door and peeked out. He gathered up his courage and stepped into the hallway. He dreaded this conversation but recognized that it would happen, sooner or later. He might as well get it over with. Better to have it on neutral ground rather than have his father search him out in his bedroom. No, he shuddered; he definitely wanted to avoid that. He remembered all too well what happened when Vernon came "looking" for him.

He saw his father sitting in an armchair staring into the fire. Harry nervously stood in the doorway, waiting for Snape to look up. Finally, Snape noticed his presence and he motioned him further into the room. Harry sat down reluctantly on the other armchair across from Snape.

The potions master stood and walked to a cabinet on the left side of the fireplace and removed a bottle of golden colored liquor. "Whiskey?" Harry looked up, startled, then gave a jerky nod. Snape poured two glasses of the liquor and passed one over to Harry. "I know that it is rather early for drinks…not even lunchtime…I just thought it might help…" Snape's words faded away once more.

Both men sat, staring into the fire, sipping their drinks occasionally. Finally, Snape spoke again. "Tell me about this spell."

Harry took a deep, steadying breath. "I got the idea my first year when I was reading a book on protection spells. The author mentioned that there was a myth, an old wives tale actually, about binding magic to animate objects in such a way that the magic could then thrive and function on its own without the caster actively feeding additional power into it. The author dismissed the possibility, claiming that no one had ever been able to actually do it successfully. I decided then and there that I would do it."

Harry's words drifted off but Snape remained silent. He would let Harry move at his own pace for this. He could not force him. "I decided upon a sort of shocking spell. A brief touch would simply feel like static electricity. A longer touch would feel like a strong dose of electricity. Continued touch would feel like a bolt of lightning." Again, Harry paused to take a sip of his drink. The pause drew out, the only sound the crackling of the fire.

"I had initially thought to use a stunning spell but I realized after a few months work on it that that would be unacceptable. If…anyone…was left stunned I would either have to reverse it myself, thereby alerting the ministry of my use of magic, or else contact Dumbledore who, as you have seen, did not support me in my efforts to protect myself."

Snape nodded. He was just now beginning to understand how deep the treachery ran. Dumbledore knew that Harry was more than just unhappy with the muggles. He knew that his uncle raped him. He knew and he didn't get Harry out of there or help him to protect himself. Hell, he didn't even support Harry's decision to protect himself.

"Is there no one who can safely touch you? Does everyone alike get shocked?"

Harry paused for a moment, clearly considering whether he wanted to confide in his father. He finally shrugged his shoulders and decided he might as well at this point. "There are two women on a sort of all clear who can always touch me. There is also an alert mode that allows me to control the shock. If I even think the code word then they will get shocked. All women are on the alert system and there are two men on the alert mode as well. All other men are on a no-touch defense."

"Who are your safe women?"

"Hermione and Poppy."

"Poppy Pomfrey?" Harry nodded and took another sip of his whiskey.

"I had thought to only include Hermione but then she and Ron reminded me that if I was unconscious that the spell would go into defense mode and anyone not on the all clear level would be completely unable to touch me. With the amount of time I spend in the hospital wing it seemed the only reasonable thing to do. Poppy has long known of what really happened at home and she kept my secrets. She knew the basics of our plan—she had seen the tattoos. I had to remove my glamours whenever I was in the hospital wing. We decided to include her in the spell."

Snape quietly thought about what Harry had said. He had chosen the women well. The Granger girl would never hurt Harry and Poppy was a good, safe second choice. As a mediwitch she was bound to protect him and keep his confidence and as a friend he knew she would never hurt him either. Plus, they had the added strength and safety of an adult. Yes, it had been well reasoned. "And the men are Dumbledore and the werewolf, I presume?"

Harry snorted. "I don't trust Dumbledore as far as I can throw him. I never have. When I received my letter addressed to the cupboard under the stairs I realized right then that he knew about my situation but chose to do nothing."

Cupboard under the stairs? He would have to return to that later. Right now he needed to focus on this spell. "And Lupin?"

"I've seen what father figures do to their sons" Harry said bitterly. Snape was again uncertain what to say.

"I may not like Lupin but he would never hurt you. He would never rape you," he said cautiously. Harry shuddered at the word.

Harry didn't comment but his eyes told Snape his complete disbelief at that statement. Snape sighed. He would work on that later too. "Who are the two men that you have included then?"

"Ron Weasley…" Harry paused and took a long sip of his whiskey presumably for strength. "And Bill Weasley."

"The oldest Weasley boy? I wasn't aware that you really knew him."

"I've known him quite well for some time now. He helped put the finishing touches on the spell."

"When did you become friends?"

Harry blushed lightly and didn't reply. "I see. How long have you been dating?"

Harry looked up, alarmed. "We aren't dating. I wouldn't do that to anyone. I wouldn't put them into that kind of danger."

"I see. How long have you two not been dating then?"

Harry looked away and started picking at the frayed edge of his shirt. "About two years."

Snape wanted to scream at the boy that Weasley was entirely too old for him but refrained from doing so. It would not do to alienate the boy now that he was actually talking to him. "Have you informed him of any of the recent proceedings, both with the muggles and with the headmaster?"

"I thought to write him a letter today and see if he could come see me over the weekend. If that is alright with you, sir."

Snape wanted to scream that no, it was damned well _not_ fine with him. Bill Weasley had to be at least ten years older than Harry. Once again, he bit back his initial reaction. "Of course. I can send him a portkey to the manor." Harry's face lit up for the first time in Snape's memory. Perhaps it would do the boy good to see his…not-boyfriend. He nearly snorted but wisely refrained from doing so. "Why don't you go write Weasley. You might want to send a letter on to Granger and Weasley as well." Harry almost smiled at Snape's ability to somehow differentiate the Weasley boys without resorting to their names. "I'm sure they will be frantic by now, having not heard from their boy wonder in so long. We will be leaving within the hour for the manor. Pack anything you need to take with you." Although Severus' voice had its typical snarky edge it lacked any sort of malice. Harry smiled internally, not allowing it to reach his face.

Harry nodded, set his now empty glass on the table and stood to leave when Snape's voice stopped him. "Harry…I would like to make a go at being a family. I know you don't know me very well, and I'm sure you don't like what you do know of me, but I think we can make this work. I cannot entirely excuse my past behavior but you need to know that my real feelings toward you were not what I acted out in public. As a spy I could not be seen to be kind to the Boy Who Lived. And I was unwilling to explain my position to you earlier. For that, I am sorry."

Harry turned slowly and looked up at his father. His words came out softly, so softly that Snape had to strain to hear them. "I understand, sir. I figured it out during fifth year. I knew you had little choice." He quickly turned and slipped down the hall to go pack.

Snape collapsed back into his chair. Harry had known. He had been able to figure out why Snape acted as he did; yet he didn't say anything. His son was becoming more of an enigma by the minute. Leaving Hogwarts and going to the manor for a few weeks would give him the perfect opportunity to get to know him a bit, to begin to crack the shell. He sent up a quick prayer to the gods for strength. He knew the coming weeks would be difficult.

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A/N: Hope this cleared up some of the questions! I've got about eight more chapters already finished but after those I am up to a bit of suggestion so if anyone has anything they would really like to see in the fic let me know and I'll try to work it in. Review!


	8. Mirror Images

Chapter 8 

An hour later Harry stepped out of his room once again and turned to the sitting room in search of his…father. Merlin, how odd that sounded! After an hour of deep thought Harry was no closer to resolving his concerns than he was when he started. Should he trust Snape? Snape claimed to want to be a family, but was that something that he wanted himself? He had seen quite enough of how families treated each other in his life at the Dursleys. But no, he thought, families were not all like that. Mr. Weasley never hurt any of his children. Perhaps Snape would be like Mr. Weasley.

Harry snorted at that thought. Snape like Mr. Weasley…he couldn't think of a single man that his father was less like. But perhaps his father would be like some of the other students' fathers. Could he trust him_? It seems you already do trust him, at least somewhat_ he countered to himself. Could that be true? Did he already trust him? He realized to his dismay that Snape had already made it inside his tiny circle of trust…he had to have or else Harry never would have told him even that much. Maybe he did want a father…just a little.

His thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt as he sensed a presence behind him. He quickly turned and pushed himself back against the wall, providing himself with as much protection as he could, eyes instantly searching out an escape route. A look of surprise flashed on Snape's face quickly replaced by sorrow which was just as quickly masked by indifference. Harry's heart rate gradually slowed and he pushed himself back up and quickly stepped out of the hallway and into the sitting room, keeping a cautious eye on Snape at all times.

Snape bit back a sigh. He had thought they were making some headway but evidently it was more of a one step forward three steps back sort of thing. Maybe the presence of Weasley would calm his son. "How are we getting to the manor?" he heard Harry ask hesitantly.

"Portkey." Harry paled instantly and Snape recalled that it had been a portkey that had taken Harry to the graveyard during the Triwizard Tournament. He hurried to explain. "I'm afraid that it is not possible to floo there and you are too young to apparate. The Knight Bus cannot go there either because of the protections on it. Portkeys are the only way. I just made it myself. I can make another one right now in front of you if you wish to make certain that it is safe."

Harry looked as though he wanted to ask him to make another portkey but refrained from actually doing so. He finally shook his head and held out his hand to accept the portkey. Snape held out the empty potion vial and tapped it with his wand. "Snape manor."

The room whirled around them and the world seemed to spin for a few minutes. Finally, the two men were dumped outside of the manor. Harry lost his balance immediately and ended up, once again, on the ground. Snape smirked and offered him a hand up which Harry looked at for a moment and then ignored in favor of finding his own feet. Snape tried to ignore the pang in his heart.

Harry brushed himself off and finally looked up, his jaw dropping. "Merlin. This is your house?" The place was huge! It was a four story stone building that had to have fifteen windows across each floor.

Snape picked up their abandoned bags and turned toward the house. "Our house, yes." Harry gave a crooked smile. _Our house_. He liked the sound of that. "It is quite small by pureblood standards but I have always preferred it so. Twenty-seven generations of Snapes have resided within these walls. You can learn a bit of our history while you are here and meet some of your ancestors if you wish."

Harry nodded absently and trudged up the path behind Snape. The door was opened by an impeccably dressed house elf who bowed deeply to Snape. "Good morning Master Severus and Little Master. May I take your bags?" Harry instantly noticed the clean clothing, proper speech and refined accent that the house elf had. Evidently the Snape house elves were treated differently from the Malfoy house elves. Hermione would be pleased with that.

Snape handed the bags off to the elf. "Thank you, Artie. Has lunch been prepared yet?"

"Yes, Master Severus. It is being served on the second floor balcony."

"Thank you." Snape proceeded to the stairs, walking slowly enough for Harry to keep up. Harry was still looking around himself in wonder. As incredible as the outside had been it was nothing compared to the interior. The Snapes must be positively made of money. He had never seen anything like it. They bypassed the entire ground level and instead walked up the stairs; Harry staring at the portraits that they passed while Snape ignored them.

They continued down a long hallway. Snape absently pointed out the doors to each of their bedrooms as they went but they did not stop to look at them. Harry would need to go back later on his own to see what his new room looked like. They finally made it outside to the balcony overlooking the back garden which was overrun with wildly blossoming flowers. A small table had been set up on the balcony which was covered in food.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the sheer amount of food prepared for the two of them but quickly sat down. The two served themselves quietly, finding little to talk about after the traumatic events of the morning. Gods, it seemed like it had been days ago that they had learned the truth, not just a handful of hours.

Snape finally cleared his throat. "Do you have much school work to do this summer?" He started to berate himself for asking such a _teacherly_ question. That would hardly help him to get to know his son any more than he already knew him. Harry's answer stopped him short though.

"I've already done a lot of it. I work on half of it the night before I go home for the summer and do the other half the night I get back before classes resume."

"Why on earth do you do that? Why not take your time and do it during vacation?" Evidently there was no such thing as an easy question for his son. Each seemingly casual question seemed to stir up more mysteries.

"The Dursleys locked my trunk up. I wasn't allowed to read my books or do homework. It was the only way to get it done short of copying Hermione's or Ron's. If I copied Hermione's it would be blatantly obvious and I can do better than Ron in the few hours I get to devote to it than he typically does. He doesn't spend much time on his summer work."

Snape suddenly understood why Harry's summer work was always done so poorly. Had his other teachers noticed this? Did they know the truth about why it was done the way it was? Was he the only one who knew nothing about his son's home life? "There are plenty of books in the library here if you wish to work on it some more. Or if you are simply looking for some reading to do in your free time. I'm afraid that there is not much to entertain a young boy around here. It can get a bit lonely out here."

"Could…" Harry began hesitantly. "Could I still ask Bill over for a bit? Or else Hermione?" Clearly Harry was not used to asking for anything, much less having his wishes granted. As much as Severus would love to refuse this request he could not find it in his heart to do so. His father would roll over in his grave at the sheer thought of the number of Gryffindors in Snape manor. It was perhaps fortunate that he was the master of the manor now and not his father.

"Of course. I will make the portkeys and we can send them out after lunch. Who would you like to have come first?" Damn. He couldn't even be snarky about it! His son had turned him into a huge mass of quivering softness. Pretty soon he wouldn't even be able to sneer properly at Gryffindors!

"May I have Bill here first? Maybe Hermione and Ron can come later."

"How do you think your friends react to all of this?"

Harry bit his lip. "I'm not sure. Bill will be fine. Hermione will be surprised but will get over it quickly. Ron will be angry at you for about an hour then, upon further thought, will redirect his anger at Dumbledore. He's not too fond of Dumbledore as it is. He'll be fine once he understands that you were just as fooled by it as I was."

"Really? I would think that Weasley's reaction would be more…volatile, given his past problems and his general dislike of me."

"Not anymore. He got upset during our fourth year with the tournament but then he vowed to never let anything get between us ever again. It was after that that I finally told Ron and Hermione…almost everything."

"But they had been helping you with your project for over a year before that. What did they think they were doing it for?"

"I never told them. I implied that it was to keep me safe from Sirius. I think they both knew that it was more than that. They knew that things weren't great with the Dursleys. They never prodded though. I think they both knew I would tell them what I could when I could."

Snape nodded. Likely Granger had a hand in keeping Weasley calm about the situation. Although Granger had an almost insufferable thirst for knowledge she also seemed to know when to back away, unlike Weasley who wouldn't know subtle if it hit him. "I will go prepare Weasley's portkey. I will have Mindy show you to your room."

"Thank you, sir. You'll need the password for Bill to know that it is safe to come."

"Password?"

"We've had some problems with mail being intercepted. We have a password that changes often and we each know not to open any suspicious mail without it, much less accept a portkey. I sincerely doubt that he would trust a portkey coming from someone who claimed to be his old Potions Professor anyway. No offense or anything. The current password is 'lightning strikes.'"

Snape smirked. "Rather appropriate."

Harry gave him a small smile. "We do try to make it something that relates to recent events. It makes it easier to remember."

"I will go send him the letter. If you have any questions feel free to ring for a house elf and they can help you with whatever you need."

Harry leaned back in his chair, thinking over their last conversation. It seemed that talking to his father was easier than he had expected. He tended to struggle speaking with anyone other than his closest friends, particularly adults. He had expected it to be just as difficult speaking with Snape as it was speaking with any other adult. There was something about Snape that made him feel…safe. How odd.

He stood from the table and called for Mindy. Mindy appeared suddenly in front of him "Would Little Master wish to see his rooms?" Harry thanked her and allowed her to lead him back down the hall to the door that Snape had pointed out earlier. He hesitantly touched the doorknob for a moment, and then slowly opened the door.

Once again, the room was not what he had been expecting. Much of the house that he had seen, although beautiful, was very dark. His room though, was filled with light. One entire wall was filled with large windows looking over the grounds. He looked to the left and saw a large bed covered in an ivory spread. The golden wood of the furniture complimented the general brightness and airiness of the room. To the right he saw a small fireplace, two armchairs and some beautiful built-in bookshelves. He stepped closer to the bookshelves and saw that the titles covered a wide range of topics, many of which he had never seen before. Some shelves were left empty for him to place his own books on or to bring in books from the family library. He couldn't wait to read some of them.

He noticed two doors, one leading to a closet, presumably, and the other to a large bathroom. He wandered into the bathroom and his jaw dropped. This bathroom didn't even deserve the name bathroom. It was pure heaven. There was a large sunken bathtub that was more akin to a small pool than a tub to one side. The entire wall behind the bathtub was an enormous window, presumably charmed to only look out. There was also a glorious shower that exceeded even his dream shower design.

He looked into the large mirror and his jaw dropped. Merlin, _that_ was what he looked like now? He walked slowly toward the mirror trying to get a better look. He rarely looked at himself in the mirror. He usually felt such disgust looking at his own body that he tried to avoid it at all costs. It had not surprised him that he had been able to shower and dry off without noticing his failed glamour. He could often go months without even glancing in a mirror or even really looking down at his own body.

Bill had been working with him to make him more comfortable with himself but it was a slow process. Bill thought he was being sneaky about his attempts but Harry had noticed them. At first he had been upset that he was such a head case that his lover had to "fix" him but he soon realized that it wasn't that he was being "fixed" but that he was simply being helped. He might not have ever asked for the help himself but he was starting to recognize that he _did_ need assistance in some things. He was finally learning that the Dursleys were wrong about a great many things and he needed help recognizing their lies and trying to readjust his world view accordingly.

He stared at his reflection in wonder. He looked so different! He definitely had more of his mum in him now. He was glad to have a few more visual reminders of her than just his eyes. He also recognized quite a few features that were pure Snape. He touched his eyebrows and nose lightly, almost unable to believe what his reflection showed him. Best of all though, he was finally a mixture of two parents, not just a carbon copy of one.

Harry eagerly unbuttoned his shirt and stripped off the T-shirt he had on under it as well. He tossed them on the floor and they were quickly joined by his trousers and boxers. He stared at himself in the mirror, naked, for the first time in his life. Yes, he had changed quite a bit. His muscles were heavier now, giving him a tiny bit of bulk. He was still very small but he looked more powerful than he had before and…Harry squinted into the mirror…was he _taller_?

He quickly called a house elf to confirm his height, forgetting that he was naked. Evidently the house elf was used to such situations though because he didn't comment on his master's state of undress. The house elf quickly measured him and left.

5'4". He had grown two inches! He finally had a growth spurt! Ron couldn't make fun of him anymore as he was no longer the shortest one in their year. Granted, there were only two girls in the year who were shorter than him now but the only thing that mattered to him was that he was no longer the shortest of all. Too bad Hermione was still 3" taller than he was. It would have been great to be at least as tall as her.

He took one last long look into the mirror, pleased with what he saw for the first time ever. Vernon had never touched _this_ body. Logically, he knew that he had. He was perfectly aware, intellectually, that very little had changed. He had grown a bit and filled out more. But it still felt different, especially now that his tattoos were visible. He felt like he was getting a new lease or something. He reluctantly dressed again, a crooked smile on his face the entire time.

He slowly walked back out into his bedroom. This room was heaven. It was exactly what Harry had always craved after living in a cupboard for so long and then his tiny, dark bedroom. This was the kind of room that would make someone actually _want_ to go to…a concept that was completely foreign to him.

He was used to his rooms feeling like prison cells or torture chambers. Actually, it was just the smallest bedroom that felt like that. He almost missed his cupboard at times. Vernon couldn't fit into it and in recent years, Dudley had even grown too big to squeeze in after him. It had provided him with a bit of sanctuary when he needed it.

But here, he wouldn't need a sanctuary. Here, he could go to his room when he wanted and he could leave when he wanted—no locks on the door. He found himself with a small, crooked smile on his face. His life had changed radically in the last twenty-four hours and he found himself actually feeling…happy.


	9. Discussing the Future

Chapter 9 

Snape cursed as he stood alone in his potions lab. He knew that he needed to be out there trying to get to know Harry but he wasn't quite sure how to start. It seemed that whenever they had these conversations they turned incredibly serious, and while he felt he did need to know that information, he didn't want Harry to start associating painful memories with talking with his father. If he did then he would likely start trying to avoid talking to him. What on earth could he discuss that wouldn't start a "serious" conversation while still getting to know his son?

He sighed and stood up. He'd just have to figure it out while he worked on finding Harry. Who knows where he could be in a house this size?

After twenty minutes of searching in what seemed to be the likely places he finally gave up and called Mindy. She immediately popped into the hall in front oh him. "Have you seen my son?"

"Yes Master Severus. He is in the library."

"Thank you Mindy. Do you know what he has done all day today?"

"He looked through a few rooms but quickly found the library. He went in to look around and hasn't come back out yet. He must have found something interesting."

Snape almost snorted but then quickly remembered his son's tattoos. If that didn't take an enormous amount of research then he didn't know what did. There was no way Granger did all of the research if his son worked on his own for two years. Perhaps that was why his homework was always barely adequate. He spent too much time reading everything else.

Clearly, his son's aversion to books was completely imagined on his part and not at all a reality of the real Harry Potter. Hmm…Harry Potter. He would have to see if his son would mind changing that. That name wasn't at all befitting the heir of the Snape family.

He turned to the library, a place where, up to now, he hadn't thought to check and quietly opened the door. Harry looked up from the chair he was curled up on and started to sit up straight. "No, no, relax. Sorry to disturb you but I wanted to talk about a few things."

Harry looked at him warily and slowly put his book on the table next to him. Snape looked at the title as he walked past, noticing that it was a defense book that he had recently bought for the manor library, _Curses and Hexes Aurors Wish You Didn't Know_. He smirked again. Clearly, his son enjoyed the same reading that he did.

As the silence drew out Harry finally pulled him back to focus. "You wanted to talk, sir?"

"Yes. There are a number of things that we need to think about for your future. The first problem is that you no longer look like Harry Potter."

Harry nodded his head slowly. "I assume that the charms cannot be replaced?"

"I sincerely doubt it. You mother was a master in her field. Not just anyone would have been able to create such a charm. Not to mention she probably used some of James Potter's blood or hair to do the charm. And with the charm having been applied the day you were born, it has had time to change and mutate a bit. You were no longer a carbon copy of your…James, as I am sure you are aware. In all, I do not believe it would be possible to safely recreate such a glamour again."

"I see. And anything less strong would stand the risk of being accidentally canceled by a stray incantation…I couldn't risk that. People would panic, thinking I had done something to the "real" Harry Potter and replaced him somehow" Harry said dryly. "What do you propose we do?"

"I think that Harry Potter should either go away to train or die."

Harry looked confused for a moment but then smirked in a manner eerily similar to his father. "That would work out well. No more media attention, no more ministry harassment. I assume you meant that I would re-enroll at Hogwarts as your son?"

"That was my thought. You could resume your education if you desire it and stay in a safe place while we are focusing on the war."

"What about you? What about your spying duties?"

"There was a reason I was at Hogwarts this summer instead of one of my country estates. I was discovered as a spy within days of school letting out for the summer. It is no longer safe for me to leave school grounds or anywhere not under the fideilas or heavy wards."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not. I've been a spy for longer than you have been alive, Harry. It was exhausting and stressful work. Being at Hogwarts so close to so many children of death eaters in all houses and years forced me to act a part nearly twenty-four hours a day. I was glad to set the part aside."

"It is exhausting being what people expect of you for so long. It will be nice to be rid of my Harry Potter persona." Snape wanted to delve into this statement but decided to try to keep the conversation relatively light for now. They had been talking—actually having a real conversation—for ten minutes now. It looked like his hastily made plan was working.

"We can take this one of two ways. We can either claim that I have kept you hidden away here at the manor since you were born to keep you safe or we can pretend that your mother recently died and you just found me. I'm not quite sure which one would be better. They both have serious drawbacks."

"With the first it would be everyone's first question of why you locked your own son away for seventeen years and I would be faced with irritating questions about why you had finally let me out. And with the second I would get a slew of potentially more irritating questions about my "mother" and how I am coping with her supposed death. I'm not quite sure which is worse. Could we try to create false credentials from Durmstrang or Beauxbatons claiming that I was educated there? Then I wouldn't have a fake mother's death to deal with or face explaining why you locked me in the manor for seventeen years."

"It would be relatively easy to create the credentials but if anyone went to check them it would be just as easily exposed. Even if we duplicated everything to keep in their office it would only take a few questions to the professors or students to know that you never went there."

Harry swung his leg absently over the arm of the chair. "Are there any really small private schools we could attempt something at?"

Snape sat back in his chair, contemplating this new idea. While generations of Snapes had been educated at either Hogwarts or Durmstrang it would not be entirely out of the question for him to have sent his son to a smaller school, especially if he wanted to keep his existence secret. "Let me think about that for a bit and get back with you. You would have to take your OWLs again in order to have new records."

"Could I just test for the NEWTs early instead?"

"Did you do that well on your OWLs? I thought your grades were average."

"I held back quite a bit. I didn't want to attract attention. The only one I didn't hold back on much was the DADA test since I knew that no matter how I did on that one the public would know. I didn't want to cause a mass panic attack if I only scored an EE." Snape snorted. The scary thing was, his son's test scores actually _could_ cause a panic attack in many people.

"How very Slytherin of you."

"Yes, well, the hat wanted me in Slytherin. I convinced it otherwise."

"But that is impossible!"

"I did it anyway."

"My gods. All this time I was convinced that you were the perfect Gryffindor."

"I'm truthfully a terrible Gryffindor. Ron and Hermione help me keep an eye on my behavior and they tell me when I am deviating from the Gryffindor norm too much. It is getting harder and harder to pretend though. I don't know if I am changing more or if I am simply finding it more distasteful to act like that as I get older."

"It is likely a combination of the two. But you still haven't answered my question. Could you really pass your NEWTs this summer?"

"I'm sure I could. I probably could have passed them last year."

"How did you get so advanced? I wasn't aware that anyone was offering you any additional training."

"They aren't. You forget that I have spent nearly every waking moment reading highly advanced texts since the moment I entered the wizarding world. I have read every single book in the Restricted Section at least once and I have read the majority of the regular library. I also seem to be able to just read about a charm or curse or hex and be able to do it on my first try. There are a few that didn't work like that but not many."

Snape gaped at his son, speechless once again. His son had read the _entire_ Restricted Section? Not even he had done that! And he could work spells perfectly on the first try? He had never heard of anyone who was able to consistently do such a thing. Perhaps the occasional spell in a specific field of specialization but _all_ of them?

"Sir? Sir? Did I say something wrong?" Harry was getting nervous. He probably shouldn't have told his father that he had spent so much time in the Restricted Section, all of it unsupervised and without permission. He didn't sleep much so he had instead occupied his time with reading. He hadn't meant to let it slip that he had read all of those books.

Snape snapped back to attention. "No, of course not. You just surprised me. Do you have any idea how…unusual it is to be able to work spells perfectly on your first try?"

"Well Hermione and Ron can't do it but surely there are others out there who can." Harry was relieved that his father's inattention was caused by his abilities and not his extracurricular reading habits.

"No. That's just the thing. No one can. Have you ever tested your magical strength?"

"How do you do that?"

"We need a focus stone. I have one in my Gringott's vault. We'll get it and try to test it when you sit your NEWTs."

"I can go ahead and take them then?"

"Yes, either at a small school or else at Hogwarts. Dumbledore owes us a few big favors right now. He can start paying up with this."

"What will I do then? I can't live at Hogwarts if I'm not a student."

"Perhaps you could enroll as an apprentice."

"What would that require?"

"You are essentially a post-degree student who focuses on one or two subjects alone. What do you wish to do when you graduate?"

Harry's look turned dark for a moment and he looked away. "I never really thought about it."

"Why not?"

"I never really thought I would live long enough to graduate."

Snape sighed heavily. "Harry…the more I talk to you the more convinced I am that you can vanquish the Dark Lord. I believe that we should start planning your future. Can you think of any career that appeals to you?"

Harry thought for a few minutes. Suddenly his face lit up. "Midiwizardry. I would like to be a healer."

"A respectable career. For that you would need to apprentice under Poppy, who I am certain would be delighted to have you. It would also behoove you to have a potions apprenticeship. Potions are incredibly important in the healing process. Although it would be rare that you would brew your own potions you need an immense working knowledge of them. You need to know what is in them to predict reactions and how strong they are to prescribe doses. Without potions knowledge you would struggle as a healer."

"That sounds fine. I'm not terrible at potions." Snape hid a grimace. An apprenticeship with his son? "I'm really not as bad as you think I am at potions. I've done a lot of independent research when we realized that we needed to create the ink used in the tattoos."

"The ink itself is a potion?"

"Yes. It is essentially a liquid form of the curse."

"Fascinating." Snape reached out a hand as if to touch the edge of the tattoo on his son's wrist but drew his hand back before he touched it. "May I look it more closely?"

Harry looked at him for a moment then silently rolled up his sleeve and held out his arm. Severus bent over the small wrist and looked closely at the tattoo, careful not to touch his son. The ink that appeared to be solid black in fact contained swirls of deep silver and flecks of bronze. "Fascinating" Snape repeated. "How did you invent this?"

"During my second year I came across a recipe in _Skin Deep: A Potions Manual_. It was for a potion used to torture victims by flashes of what felt like electricity. The potion was applied to the victim and then the brewer could control the amount of electricity that pulsed into the victim for the entirety of the victim's life regardless of their distance from the victim. A rather creative torturing device, if I do say so. I worked on altering the potion alone for a year then turned to Hermione and Ron. Or rather, Hermione. Ron really is as bad at potions as you think he is."

Snape nodded. No surprise there. "And so you twisted the potion to shock an outside entity rather than the person covered in the potion and set yourself as the controller of the shock rather than the brewer?"

"Well I was the brewer so I didn't really need to change that aspect of it. We also needed to alter it to recognize certain auras as 'safe' so to speak. That way I wouldn't walk around shocking literally everyone."

"Yes, of course, your safe list and your warning list. How do you make the potion recognize an aura?"

"Well, by halving the gypsum root and doubling the crushed aniseed and then stirring counterclockwise two and a quarter turns instead of clockwise for four turns it became open to suggestion, so to speak. Now if I place someone's blood on one of the runes and speak the incantation I can add them to my warning or safe list."

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Why have you never shown this knowledge in class?"

"Because everyone knows that Harry Potter is terrible at potions."

"Expectations?"

Harry nodded. "On my first day of class I didn't know anything because I had just learned about the wizarding world. I had gotten my course books a few weeks earlier but the Dursleys locked them away so I couldn't prepare. So I truly _was_ terrible at potions then…or at least ignorant of them. After I had been established as an incompetent potions student it just seemed easier to continue on in that manner."

"I'm sorry." Snape felt a pang of regret. _He_ was solely responsible for his son's potions struggles…or at least what appeared to be struggles.

"Don't be. That was actually what gave me the idea to present myself as a merely adequate student. It has saved me quite a few headaches over the year plus it pulled me out of the limelight at least some. Can you imagine what people would say if Harry Potter was not only the Boy Who Lived and winner of the Triwizard Tournament but was also top of his class in every subject? Please." Harry snorted.

Snape smirked. "I will look into an appropriate school for your credentials and schedule your tests with them. We can speak with Poppy about a double apprenticeship for you later this evening."

"Thank you" Harry said gratefully. What a relief to finally be done with those terrible classes. It was wretched sitting in a classroom day after day having full knowledge of all of the material but pretending interest anyway. And it was even worse having to pretend incompetence alongside that. Hopefully his…father could work it all out.

-

-

A/N: Yes, Harry is very powerful. He is able to easily learn new spells. He will though, struggle a bit with healing magic (I'll explain why in the next chapter). Although Harry is extremely powerful he is in no way invincible or all-powerful. Just wanted to set a few minds at rest. Please review!


	10. Dinner and a Drink

Chapter 10 

Severus sat in his seat in the dining room, waiting for his son to come to their evening meal. This afternoon had gone better than expected. He was able to get to know his son a bit more, make a few basic decisions about their futures and learn some more about the tattoos without prying too terribly much or looking as if he were trying to get information. They still had a lot more to finalize about the next school year but he felt better having done as much as they had. Things were moving quickly but they had little choice in the matter, given Dumbledore's manipulations.

He looked up as Harry entered the room and scowled upon seeing how his son was dressed. "You'll need some new clothes Harry."

Harry gave an uncharacteristic grin. "Yeah. I finally grew!" He threw himself in a chair near Severus and started piling food on his plate. The Potions Master hid a grimace at his son's complete lack of manners. They would work on that later. "Do you know how tall you are now?"

"I just measured myself earlier. I'm 5'4" now. I had been scared I would stop at 5'2". I was the shortest one in my year."

Snape hesitated to speak again but his curiosity had been eating at him all day. "I am 6'4" and your mother was 5'10". Do you know why you are so…" he faded away, searching for a proper word for his son's _tinyness_.

Harry looked up from his plate for a moment, then slowly set his fork down by his plate. "Vernon liked his boys young and he liked them small. He ensured that I would stay that way."

Severus stared at his son. His _uncle_ was the reason that he was so short? What on earth did he do? Muggles didn't have magic to alter someone's body…how had he done it? Harry must have noticed his father's confusion so he expanded, although he gripped his fork so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "He would rarely give me food and only then it was just enough to sustain life. I would often go days without a meal. The damage from such extreme malnourishment at such a young age and for such an extended period of time was impossible to counteract by the time I made it to Hogwarts." With that Harry picked up his fork again and shoveled a large bite of asparagus into his mouth, fighting his own demons once more.

His son sustained seriously stunted growth because of a muggle's sexual perversions? He kept his face blank, knowing that Harry would bolt if he showed pity. He struggled for a moment to keep his emotions tightly reigned in. Finally, when he felt slightly more in control again, Severus cleared his throat. "Did Poppy give you any vitamin enhancers or growth potions?"

Harry paused to swallow his enormous bite. "Yes. I've been on a vitamin enhancer since I entered Hogwarts and I've tried all of the growth potions. The 5'2" was a result of the only one that was able to do anything at all."

It was becoming increasingly clear that this conversation was completely distasteful to his son. Snape decided to steer the discussion in a hopefully more neutral direction.

"I will have my tailor come to the manor to measure you for some new clothes as soon as possible."

The twinkle returned to Harry's eyes and Snape breathed a quick sigh of relief. "Does your tailor know how to make anything in any color but black?"

Snape gave a half-hearted glare to his son. "I'll have you know I own a few items that aren't black. I just don't wear them at Hogwarts."

"Do you just really like black or is there a purpose to it?"

"I am more comfortable in less flashy clothing but the real purpose was to save me time when I had to go to Death Eater meetings. I had to waste precious minutes getting outside the wards of the school to apparate to the Dark Lord's side; I could not waste any additional time changing my robes. The Dark Lord was most displeased with tardiness."

"Yes, I can see where he doesn't seem to be a very patient fellow."

Snape choked on his wine. The Dark Lord not patient? "Only you would complain of such a quality in him. Anyone else would be commenting on his murderous rages, his love of torture or his general insanity."

"Well those are all irritating too."

Snape rolled his eyes. Dear Merlin, the boy was daft. Irritating indeed. They finished their meal quietly, making only occasional small talk about the manor and prior Snapes. "If you would like to retire to the study we could have an after dinner drink" Snape offered. He tried to keep the hopeful lilt out of his voice but wasn't certain that he was entirely successful.

Harry flashed a quick, nervous smile. "That sounds good. I have a few questions for you."

"Of course. Follow me." The Snape men withdrew from the dining room and walked down the hall to the study. Harry entered the room behind his father and took a moment to orient himself to the new location. Snape noticed that Harry's eyes immediately sought out escapes and safe havens within the room and he bit back a growl. He would kill those muggles for what they had done to his son. Harry shouldn't have to be afraid to enter a room with his own father in his own house.

Severus pretended to ignore his son's actions and instead walked over to the small bar behind the desk. "Absinthe?"

Harry nodded as he made his way to one of the armchairs that flanked the fireplace. Severus quickly poured the drinks and made his way over to the other armchair. He set Harry's drink on the small table that separated the chairs. He had already noticed that his son tried to avoid anything that was remotely close to touch and he tried to keep a few feet or a barrier of some sort between them. While he felt that his son needed to work on his fear of touch he was not about to push him tonight, after the day that they had already had.

Harry finally broke the silence. "I don't understand…" he drifted off. Snape decided to leave Harry to his own devices. He knew his son would speak in his own time. "I don't understand how you're my father." Snape raised a single eyebrow at this statement, causing Harry to blush lightly. "I mean, I understand _that_ but I don't understand what was going on with you two. Were you dating? Why did you stop dating? Why didn't she tell you she was pregnant?"

Severus sighed and shifted in his seat. "Your mother and I started dating at the end of her fourth year—my fifth year."

"My mother was younger than you?" Harry interrupted.

"Yes. We dated quietly—although it was no secret that we dated not many people knew of it. We didn't actively prevent anyone from learning but we certainly didn't flaunt the truth in any way. We avoided all public appearances together and we rarely spoke of the other to anyone else.

"After I graduated I only saw her on rare occasions that I could come by the school or she could sneak out. We made every effort to be together though…we were so young and foolishly in love. The last time we were together was on the night of my initiation. After we…met," Severus hastily edited his story "we were sitting in the hotel room, talking about the future. I told her that my father was forcing me to take the mark. Although I did not want to take the mark I did believe in The Dark Lord's mantra, just not his methods. At the time, I did not understand the importance of bringing fresh blood and ideas into the wizarding world. I believed that The Dark Lord had it right.

"Lily grew angry and left the room as quickly as she could. Being a foolish young man I did not understand how my words could have hurt her so much. I too dressed and went on my way. I was initiated that night amidst much celebration. My father was delighted that I was able to take the mark at such a young age and The Dark Lord was thrilled to have a potions master at his beck and call.

"I never heard from Lily again. I can only assume that she found out shortly thereafter that she was pregnant with you. I had no idea. I knew that her pregnancy must have followed hard on our breakup but at the time I was so enthralled by the Dark Lord's work and so bitter over what I perceived to be her betrayal of me through her hasty marriage to Potter that I never examined the facts. The possibility had floated through my mind at some point before your first year but when you entered the Great Hall my vague hope shattered. I was convinced that you were Potter's son."

Harry nodded his head absently as he took the story in. Apart from a brief feeling of nausea as he thought about his parents and sex he had found the story fascinating. "Did you love her? No, I'm sorry. You don't need to answer that."

"It is a perfectly acceptable question, Harry. Yes, I loved your mother dearly."

"If you loved her, how could you still think that her kind had no place in the wizarding world?"

Snape sighed audibly. "There can be no excuse for my behavior. I can only blame it on the folly of youth. I somehow believed that non-purebloods did not belong in our world yet I believed that Lily was the one who was different. She was the only one who was deserving of her place here. I completely separated her from the nameless, faceless mass of muggleborn wizards that I wanted to remove from our world."

Harry sat in silence for a moment, contemplating his father's words. "I don't think that is so abnormal. Wizards of all ages are doing that today with the war." Snape looked up in surprise. "They all moan about how terrible the situation is with Voldemort but they do nothing to stop it. They talk about the poor muggles and muggleborns that are killed but the deaths are not real to them because they do not attempt to put a name and face with the bodies. They separate the potential fate of their muggleborn friends from the fate of the faceless muggleborn bodies in the paper, allowing them to live their lives quietly without fighting back. They never make the connection that if they do not fight back then their friend may be next. They only start actively fighting once their friend actually becomes the next victim."

Snape sipped his absinthe. "You are very perceptive. I suppose that we all do that, at one point or another. It takes a personal tragedy to wake us up. To me, that was losing Lily…or at least losing her to Potter. A few months after the incident I told you about I realized that she was not coming back to me, that I had truly lost her. I reevaluated all of my prior beliefs and came to the conclusion that I was wrong. I went to Dumbledore and begged his protection."

Harry snorted. "The best protection he could come up with was to force you into even more danger?"

Snape gave a half-hearted smirk. "Perhaps protection is the wrong word for what I received. Although he placed me in more immediate danger I had the satisfaction of knowing I was on the right side, on Lily's side. When you defeated The Dark Lord for the first time Dumbledore also bought me my freedom. His testimony alone kept me from Azkaban."

Harry grumbled. "I suppose he did help you, some. He could have done better though. All Dumbledore knows how to do is manipulate people."

"Yes. As the leader of the light he is placed in an uncomfortable position of protecting the entire world from men like the Dark Lord. He achieves his ends through questionable means at times but he is always looking at the larger picture. He has plots within plots, each layer revealed when he believes it is time."

Harry stood so quickly his chair nearly flipped over. He clenched his hands so tightly his knuckles were white and he trembled in his anger. "Are you defending him? Do you think what he does is right?" His voice cracked from emotion by the end.

"No, I would never defend his actions as right. I am merely pointing out the difficulty of his position. I think that he forgets that we are all humans and not pawns—a fatal error, that. While he knew of what was happening with the muggles I do not believe he actually understood it. He forgot that you were a boy, not a weapon. He was so busy looking at the big picture that he forgot that it was made up of individuals who are human beings."

Harry shakily sat down again. Snape summoned the bottle of absinthe and poured his son another glass which he quickly downed. "I offer no defense Harry" he continued. "His actions were revolting and should you decide to withdraw from the war completely in response to them then you have my full support. I am, and will always be, on your side."

Harry looked his father in the eye, looking for his sincerity which he quickly found. "Thank you" he whispered. Harry stood to leave but his father's voice stopped him. "Do you wish to contact Poppy tonight to discuss a possible internship?"

Harry turned back eagerly. "Can I?" As strange as it may seem, Poppy was one of his close friends and he missed her. They had spent so much time together while he was in the hospital wing for various ailments that he found that he missed her if he went too long without seeing her. She, Hermione and Sirius were the only people he had ever met who had _always_ been on his side.

"Certainly. The fire is warded for floo calls and we can floo out but no one, not even us, may floo in unless it is first initiated here by one of us. It is part of the security measures that I installed."

Snape strode over to the hearth and tossed in a handful of floo powder. "Poppy Pomfrey, Hogwarts Infirmary." The fire flickered green for a moment and Poppy's face appeared in the fire.

"What can I do for you, Severus?"

"I need your assistance for something. Would you mind stepping through for a moment? I'm at the manor."

"Of course, Severus. Just a moment." Poppy's face disappeared and the Snape men sat down once again to wait. Within a few minutes the fire flickered green once more and Poppy stepped out of the flames. She briskly brushed her robes off and looked up, finally noticing that Severus was not alone. She immediately noticed the resemblance between the two.

"I wasn't aware that you had a son, Severus."

Snape smirked. It wasn't often that you could pull something over Poppy. She knew almost everything about almost everyone. She somehow managed her immense knowledge without the manipulation that Dumbledore did and she never attempted to use that knowledge for personal gain. She had been one of Snape's only friends for many years now. "Yes, this is my son. That is precisely what I wished to speak with you about."

"You look a bit peaky dear. Do you mind if I run a quick diagnostic on you?" Poppy immediately assumed that she had been called to the manor in her capacity of mediwitch. Harry looked to his father hesitantly. Severus nodded and Harry reluctantly agreed. She flicked her wand at him, froze for a moment, then did it again. She let out a shaky breath. "Harry? Is that you dear?"

"Yes Poppy."

"Well for goodness sakes, child, remove the glamour so I can properly examine you."

Harry looked at Snape again, begging him with his eyes to do the explaining. When he had decided to ask Poppy here he had momentarily forgotten his changed appearance and the explanations that would surely need to follow. Snape cleared his throat. "There is no glamour Poppy. This is his true appearance."

Poppy froze. "Excuse me, Severus, I believe I heard you wrong. Are you saying that Harry truly looks like this? He actually is your son?"

Normally Severus smiling would completely unnerve the poor mediwitch. Given the circumstances, she was absolutely floored. Severus Snape had a child? That child was Harry Potter? Severus Snape was _pleased_ with that?

"How did you know it was Harry? That spell shouldn't have allowed you to read his aura."

"It didn't. Harry has unique scarring. I would recognize it anywhere."

Snape's eyes closed involuntarily as Harry looked nervously at his father. He might have downplayed the situation at the Dursley's a bit. He hadn't wanted Snape to know exactly how bad it was. This could only raise more questions. He breathed a sigh of relief when it was apparent that Snape was not going to ask any uncomfortable questions of him—at least as long as Poppy was here.

"Well, what did you boys ask me here for? Not that I don't love to see you both, but I know that neither one of you is likely to socialize with anyone without a purpose."

"We are currently considering possibilities for Harry's future at Hogwarts. Clearly, his appearance has changed considerably. We have thought of the possibility of him attending Hogwarts as my son, allowing him to step out of the spotlight as the Boy Who Lived."

"That would be ideal. Perhaps you could finally get an opportunity to rest a bit, dear. You've worked yourself too hard over the past six years" she tutted. "You simply must learn to take breaks!" She turned to Severus. "Honestly, between you and your potions and your son and all his books I don't know how either of you sleeps."

Harry flushed lightly. "I'll try to be better about it Poppy. They worked though."

"They did?" she asked eagerly. "Remarkable. May I examine them? I wish to see if there has been any change since they have functioned. I assume that they have been tested to their full capacity?"

"Yes Poppy." Again, Harry looked at his father out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want Snape looking too deeply into his last statement. Anything he thought would probably be true but he really didn't want to discuss this last encounter with his uncle. Ever the spy, Snape simply filed away this bit of information to examine later.

Poppy grumbled under her breath for a moment about muggle brutes and uncles who weren't even good enough for Azkaban as she sorted through her makeshift healing satchel, searching for the proper tools to reassess Harry's tattoos. Snape smirked at Poppy's righteous anger. It looked like he would have at least one assistant on his little trip to the muggle house.

"Well Severus, where shall I examine him?"

"We should adjourn to the lab. The lighting is better and the room is kept sterile." He motioned Poppy and his son out the door and down the hall.


	11. Firewhiskey and Files

Chapter 11 

Severus learned back in his chair as he contemplated all that he had learned that evening. He absently tapped his fingers on the thick folder that sat in front of him. Poppy knew his son well. She knew him so well that she was perfectly aware of the fact that Harry would tell his father little, if anything, of his true life with the muggles.

Although Harry had not confided in her about the actual experiences she was able to infer quite a lot from his medical exams. The heavy scarring that he now carried was consistent with repeated rape—there was no other diagnosis; no possibility for misunderstanding. As much as his son had tried to hedge his way around their conversations about his uncle Severus could now see that what Harry had implied and what he had assumed had happened was true. Worse, he had found that he didn't even know the half of it.

To help her friends, both Severus who clearly wanted to know about his son and Harry who struggled even speaking with people, much less confiding in them, Poppy left Severus with Harry's medical file to help expose Severus to what Harry's life had been like at the muggles. And what an eye opener that was. Severus had opened it knowing that he would find out certain things about his son but even with his prior knowledge of Harry's life with the muggles he had been completely unaware of the damage they had truly done.

After downing half a bottle of firewhiskey he was no longer surprised that Harry had opted to create a spell that repelled all human touch. Merlin, it was a miracle that Harry had allowed _anyone_ to touch him at all.

The list of injuries was extensive and seemingly never ending. The sheer number of broken bones made him cringe and the number of times that advanced healing spells had to be applied to his son's anus turned his stomach. As the head of house for Slytherin he had witnessed some bad cases of abuse over the years. Nothing he had seen could compare to this. The level of brutality involved was horrifying even to an ex-Death Eater.

Abuse in the magical world was rare and when it happened it was magically induced, and among pure bloods it was enforced by house elves. Most adult pure bloods hated house elves because they had memories of years of abuse at their hands. While they knew intellectually that the house elves were forced to obey their master's will and were completely innocent in the abuse most purebloods were unable to separate the two, starting a vicious cycle that had only gotten worse over the years resulting in the often severe abuse of the very house elves who would later punish the children under the master's orders.

Even more shocking was the sexual abuse though. Sexual abuse was so rare among wizards that Snape had never actually encountered a case of it among his Slytherins. He had no idea what to do with it. Harry was faced with muggle abuse, sexual abuse and incest. Gods, where would he even start to heal him?

His mind flickered back over the events of the evening. Poppy had examined Harry in the lab and then quickly asked Snape to leave. He did not need to ask exactly what had happened at the time: he had a pretty good idea. After looking over Harry's file he now knew exactly what had happened. He was confused as to how the muggle was able to get that far with Harry without being shocked but he decided not to question it. Clearly, the how was not as important as the fact that it had happened, again.

Poppy had opened the door to the lab again thirty minutes later, once again looking furious. Their hastily whispered conversation in the corridor had been enlightening. Poppy had looked nervous for a moment, as if she were about to do something she did not feel comfortable with. "Did he tell you about…" she drifted off.

Severus understood. She wanted to speak about his son's injuries but wasn't certain if he knew anything yet. She didn't want to break confidentiality. "Yes, he has told me something of his life with the muggles and his uncle's treatment of him."

Poppy breathed a quick sigh of relief. "I doubt he told you much." Severus shook his head. "I'll leave you with his file. I don't want to give it to you just so you can catalogue abuses but I believe that you will be able to look at it and get some ideas for how to deal with your son. There are certain things that you absolutely must never do to him. He occasionally has flashbacks of past events and I hope that reading this will help you to recognize potentially dangerous things that can spark a flashback for him."

Severus' brow wrinkled. His son had flashbacks. Dear Merlin, this was getting more and more complicated. Did Dumbledore have any clue how bad this had gotten? Dumbledore. His eyes flashed angrily and Poppy took a quick step away from her friend. "Did Dumbledore know the extent to which the Dursleys abused him?"

"Yes." Poppy spoke the word clearly, looking Severus directly in the eye. There was no possible cause for doubt. "When he arrived his first year I immediately treated him as best I could then ran to Dumbledore's office to report. He smiled and told me that surely I was exaggerating the situation and that Harry would be just fine there. I showed him the photographs I had taken to document the abuse and he told me that it was none of my concern, that Harry had to stay there for his own safety.

"When I continued to argue he placed a spell on me to prevent me from speaking of this to anyone who didn't already know the truth. This effectively prevented me from getting Harry any help unless he went to someone else first. I believe we both know he would never do that."

"The media would have a field day with this."

"Yes" she nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Harry would never willingly put himself into that situation. He would rather live with the abuse than face such a public trial."

"Dumbledore has much to pay for."

Poppy nodded again, clearly agreeing with his assessment of the situation. She looked up at Severus again, wanting to speak again but afraid to do so. At Snape's silent encouragement she finally spoke hesitantly. "Whatever happens, whatever he decides, I want you to know I am on Harry's side."

Severus did not question her at all. He knew exactly what she meant and did not wish to press her further. That much alone must have hurt her to say. It seemed that anyone who knew Harry personally was giving up on the Great Leader of the Light. Dumbledore was slipping up more and more. His mistakes were getting larger and he was starting to fail. It hurt to realize that someone you had long revered as a powerful leader and mentor was, in fact, nearly as bad in many ways as the Dark Lord.

Severus looked anxiously through the door, looking for some sign of his son. He knew that the exam had to have been at least somewhat traumatic for his son who was so clearly afraid of human touch. It would have been impossible for Poppy to treat and heal his son without at least some contact, and unfortunately it had to be in extremely vulnerable places. For his son—for any rape victim—the treatment had to have been nearly as traumatic as the original event. Once again, they were forced to endure a touch they did not want. At least this time it was Poppy, someone he knew and trusted, who was touching him—and at least he knew that she was touching him with the intent to heal and not harm. He had intended to ask Poppy here for some drinks and a light discussion of apprenticeships and instead his son was treated to a thorough medical exam and rehashing of his most recent run in with the muggles.

She looked at Severus closely and the concern in his eyes. "You want this—a son. You want him, don't you?" She sounded slightly surprised by the revelation, yet also relieved.

Severus looked as if he was going to ignore her question for a moment when he finally responded. "Yes. I have already failed him in nearly every way possible. I cannot fail him now. I will do what I must to make our family work."

Poppy smiled. "You are doing an excellent job so far. Keep at it, no matter how much he pushes you away. You two need each other." Her face twisted into a scowl. "I cannot believe Dumbledore kept it from you for so long. I cannot fathom what that man was thinking. He is the one who has failed, Severus, not you. He has too much power over our lives and he wields it poorly."

Severus nodded but did not comment. He couldn't help but think that he somehow could have saved his son some of his pain, that he could have done something. Maybe he hadn't known Harry was his son but he should have been more attentive of Lily's son, regardless of who he thought was the boy's father.

She quickly cleared her expression though as Harry stepped back into sight, offering him a smile. She may be livid with Dumbledore but she would protect Harry as much as she could.

The three had returned to the study to sit and discuss potential apprenticeship programs. Poppy had instantly agreed to mentor Harry in a healing program and she also agreed that potions would be of great assistance. Harry would spend a day and a half with his father every week and the rest of the week in the infirmary helping Poppy and learning new magics. The healing arts were quite different from the magics taught in the core classes at Hogwarts and not everyone could use them but both Poppy and Severus believed that Harry had a strong inclination toward healing and would thrive.

Harry had been thrilled to be accepted as her apprentice. He worried for a bit that Dumbledore would be able to prevent the apprenticeship but they convinced him that it would be impossible to stop. As masters in their fields both Poppy and Severus were allowed to take apprentices whenever and wherever they wanted. No one could attempt to come between an apprentice and his or her mentor. If Dumbledore tried to stop them then both Poppy and Severus would be free of their contracts and could quit at any time.

The three of them had a lovely evening together discussing past times. Harry was delighted to hear a bit more about his mother, who had also evidently considered a career in the healing arts, although she had never been able to pursue it at all. Harry was thrilled to learn that he would not have to share a room with a bunch of other boys anymore and could instead share an apartment with one of his mentors. As much as he tried to relax in the dorms the situation had always tied his stomach in knots. It was one of many reasons he was often out of his bed at nights.

Severus smiled, briefly able to forget the pain he had felt as he read his son's medical file. His son would be with him at Hogwarts! A dream that he had long since set aside as impossible would now be able to come to fruition. Granted, his son wouldn't be in his house since apprentices were not sorted, but his own son would be there with him, working in his lab side by side.

He looked over at the clock. Merlin, was it already 4 a.m.? How had it gotten so late? _Bill_ he thought with a sneer, would be at the manor in a few hours. He had set the portkey to be voice activated rather than time activated but had hinted in his letter that he should arrive around 9. Hopefully the brat wouldn't come much earlier. He needed to get some sleep first if he was expected to stomach a Weasley in Snape manor. A Weasley who was dating his son.

He held in his growl and started putting Harry's medical file back together to go up to bed. The growl slipped out as he once again saw some of the photographs labeled 'evidence'. Damn muggles. Maybe Weasley wasn't so bad. He probably knew a few good curses. The eldest Weasley was, after all, a curse breaker for Gringotts. Maybe he would come with him on his little visit to the muggles. An evil smile lit on his face. Yes, perhaps a few Weasleys had their use after all.

-

A/N: I am not quite sure where I stand on situations like I wrote about, with a medical professional giving a confidential file to a parent. Father or not, minor or not, I am inclined to believe that it is none of his damn business, especially when it concerns rape and when the parent is newly discovered and not a lifelong parental figure. I needed it though for the sake of plot. I'm not sure if Harry will ever find out that his father read it. If anyone has an opinion one way or another let me know.

If case you didn't figure it out by the ending there…Bill makes his grand entrance in Chapter 12! Please review!


	12. Enter the MenaceerBoyfriend

A/N: Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews…you all really brighten my days! I haven't been responding largely because I usually find long review responses and author's notes irritating as a reader, especially if a story is a bit old and there is no chance of getting a response to your own review. 

A few reviewers pointed out a few loopholes that I accidentally created. I'm in the process of deciding how to address them in the story. Before I post a new chapter I always reread the last few chapters that I've posted and skim over the next few that I plan to post to make sure that they fit together but somehow, even though I've read this damn thing a million times, I totally missed the problems. Oops. I _am_ going to address the biggest issues but it probably won't be for a few chapters (I'm usually between 7-10 chapters ahead of what I have posted so reworking this may be a bit sticky).

Enjoy your Bill!

WARNING: mild sex scene (probably doesn't even merit the M rating I've given the story) toward the end of the chapter (scene break marked by ). _This is clearly between two men_, _one of whom has not yet turned 17_. If this bothers you, you should probably leave now. Or at least do us both a favor and skip past that part.

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Chapter 12 

Harry stood in the sitting room with his father, waiting for the arrival of his…Bill. He was nearly jumping in nervous excitement. It had been over a month since he had last seen Bill. It was also his first time ever having a visitor over to his house. _His house_. Merlin that felt strange to say.

Severus noticed the excitement and smiled. Yes, it had been a good decision to allow the Weasley boy to come for a visit. He congratulated himself on his planning. If this made Harry happy then it would be worth it, opening his manor to a Gryffindor and a Weasley to boot.

Finally Bill appeared in front of them, facing the wall. He stared at the opulence of the room before turning around and spotting Harry and Severus. He nodded to Severus in silent greeting before turning his attention to Harry.

Merlin he had changed! Harry stood nervously awaiting Bill's inspection. Bill could scarcely wrap his mind around the new Harry. Harry had been handsome before but now he was downright beautiful. Somehow the changes had allowed him to retain his androgynous quality and perhaps increase it, if that was at all possible, but more importantly it had done so while allowing him to look like an adult.

Before he had been slightly androgynous but it had appeared to be something he may grow out of. Now it was blatantly obvious that this was what an adult Harry looked like. He was petite but powerful. His eyes had darkened from the previous Killing Curse Green to a rich emerald green. His decidedly masculine jaw offset his large, beautiful eyes and long, dark eyelashes. His hair was longer and now had thick red highlights running through it but it did nothing to detract from the aura of masculinity that Harry still carried, regardless of his numerous feminine characteristics.

Bill finally drew a breath again and smiled. Harry took this as a sign of approval and he rushed forward to throw his arms around his lover. Bill held him close for a moment, resting his chin on Harry's head. Bill noticed the added height and was pleased for Harry. He had never cared how tall Harry was but he knew that it bothered his short lover. With his added inches, Harry was probably now an even foot shorter than Bill.

Harry finally drew away from Bill. "I'm glad you could come." Bill started at the silky voice that Harry now had but quickly recovered. It was only to be expected. He looked over at Snape who was still glaring at him, although the level of animosity seemed to be reduced to that consistent with the smartest of Ravenclaws—a glare level that Gryffindors rumored to be true but no one had ever experienced before. He offered a smile in return.

Snape found himself irrationally irritated that Weasley was now as tall as he was. His glares lost much of their power when he couldn't look down his nose at the miscreant…er…boyfriend.

"I came as soon as I could. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you were in Surrey." Harry's face clouded over at the memory but Bill quickly carried on. "Have you told the rest of the family yet about all of this?" Bill had learned to acknowledge the experiences that Harry had with his muggle family without dwelling on them. He did not want Harry to ever think that he either did not know what happened or did not care what happened nor did he want to pressure Harry into discussing them. Whenever they spoke of the muggles it was always Harry who brought the topic up. Bill wanted Harry to see him as someone he could always go to when he wanted to talk about the abuse and not someone who would pressure him into giving details.

"I sent letters to Ron and Hermione telling them that everything worked as expected and that I would be staying at Hogwarts for the summer. I mentioned that Dumbledore had something important to tell me but haven't told them what it was yet. I wasn't quite certain how to…" he faded off.

"Don't worry. We can work on a letter to them later if you want. Merlin Harry, you look like a little Snape dressed like that!"

Harry looked down at his all black ensemble in embarrassment. "I _am_ a little Snape. None of my clothes fit me very well though and…" he awkwardly searched for a word to call his father. "The Professor decided to shrink some of his clothes to fit me." Snape looked momentarily disappointed at Harry's chosen title but quickly recovered his composure. It was only natural, after all, that Harry would hesitate to call him anything else. They had only found out the truth around twenty-four hours ago.

Bill smiled. "It's a good look for you. Ron will absolutely die though."

"Yeah, I guess it is kind of a shock. Somehow I feel like this is more…me though. Do you know what I am saying?"

Snape's silky voice finally filled the room. "It is natural for you to feel more comfortable in this guise as it is your true form. As the years wore on the glamour was undoubtedly growing more uncomfortable for you. It might have broken soon. It was certainly beginning to crack more."

"That's true. I was never able to change my hair at all until the summer after fifth year when I was suddenly able to grow it long and my eyesight had slowly been correcting itself. I don't even need glasses anymore!"

"Had your eyesight been improving before the glamour was removed?"

"Yes, a bit" Harry said. "It had probably gotten about 50 better. Poppy fixed my glasses for me a few times over the last year so they wouldn't hurt my eyes. She was baffled as to what was making my eyes change for the better."

Severus smirked. He enjoyed seeing the unflappable mediwitch confused about something. She was too damn smart. He turned his attention to the irritatingly tall Weasley standing so brazenly in his sitting room. "How long will you be staying, Weasley?"

"I'm not certain. I figured I'd stay at least for the weekend. I might need to be back at work on Monday though, I'll just need to see what is going on at Gringott's. Some days are definitely busier than others." Bill's arm absently pulled Harry closer in to his side, his hand running up and down Harry's ribcage.

Severus nodded, using all of his power to remain rooted to his place and not tear Weasley's hands off his body. "Why don't you show your guest up to his room?" Severus tried to accentuate the "his" part to encourage Harry to house his guest in a separate room but evidently Harry missed or ignored the not-so-subtle hint.

Harry grabbed Bill's free hand and pulled him toward the door. "Wait 'til you see my room! You'll love it. My bed is huge! There's windows everywhere and loads of bookshelves and…" Snape heard Harry chattering as the two boys walked down the hall. He sighed. Much as he wanted to yell after Harry that Bill needed to stay in separate quarters he wasn't certain that he could deny his son anything. Harry's joy at having Bill there was palpable and he would do nothing to diminish it.

He decided to leave the boys to their own devices until lunch. He didn't even want to think about what they were doing for entertainment up there. He almost found himself wishing for the old days when his greatest worry about Harry's mischief was whether he would wander into a corridor that he shouldn't be in or how late he was for curfew, not whether he was entertaining a Weasley in his bed.

He sighed. Maybe he was getting old or something. But no, that didn't explain it. He clearly wasn't terribly old fashioned: Harry was, after all, conceived out of wedlock by a boy who was barely over age and a girl who was most decidedly not yet. Why on earth did the thought of Weasley and his son bother him so much? Maybe it was some strange affliction that hit new fathers or something. He decided not to look any further into the matter, knowing he would only expose his own lie to himself. He had only had a son for a day or so…he really needed to stop blaming his strange behavior on him. Perhaps he was already starting to love his son.

To take his mind off the disturbing mental image of a Weasley in bed with his son and the rather terrifying thought of actually loving another human being again for the first time since Lily, he decided to go to his potions lab and do a bit of work. He wanted to brew a fresh vitamin enhancer for Harry. When the potions were brewed for a specific individual slight changes could be made to strengthen the potion's effect for the patient.

He had always brewed Harry's potions at school but he had never known that they were for Harry so he had not made any allowances. He shook his head. Even if he had known it would not have mattered. He would never have put in the extra effort to make the potion better.

As he got a thick pewter cauldron out from the cabinet he felt the sense of relief he always felt upon entering his lab. He truly was more at home there than he was anywhere else. Perhaps making the potion would distract him from his thoughts. He often found that if he was stressed out and he stopped to focus on a potion that by the end of his work he would have worked the problem out without consciously thinking about it. Somehow the distraction allowed his mind to come to terms with problems and to see new solutions where seemingly none had existed before. Perhaps the potion would help him to understand what was really going on with his emotions recently.

Harry pulled Bill into his room and slammed the door shut. Bill didn't give the décor a second glance as he spun Harry around and pushed his back into the door. Mouths descended into a long and hungry kiss. It had been entirely too long. "Missed you" Harry moaned, desperate to feel his lover's skin against his once again. Harry's small fingers scrabbled to undo the buttons on his lover's shirt, only succeeding in opening a few in his lust filled haze.

Bill anticipated the problem though as he bent down and swept Harry up in his arms. He turned once again to the room and spotted the bed in the far corner. A few long strides brought him to the edge of the bed and he tossed Harry on it and quickly following him down. "My bed is huge my ass. You are such a tease making me walk through this huge house making me think about you on this bed" he growled as he licked and nipped at Harry's neck.

Harry's gasps and mewls filled the room and he tried to form a coherent defense. He quickly gave up and decided to expend his energy in getting his lover naked. He finally managed to remove Bill's shirt and Bill made quick work of stripping Harry of his borrowed clothes.

Bill lifted Harry up higher on the bed as he bent down to take Harry in his mouth. Harry nearly screamed as Bill swallowed him completely, bucking up off the bed. He tugged wildly at Bill's long hair. "I won't" he gasped "last long if you keep doing" he moaned "oh…that. Oh bloody hell keep going."

Bill smirked but he released his lover and flipped him over onto his stomach and rearranged his limbs as he wanted them with one hand as he tugged his own pants off with the other. Bill was always extremely gentle although he did have a habit of simply lifting his small lover bodily and moving him to suit his desires. He was scared to be too rough with Harry since he was so much larger than he was. It was easy to forget his strength and size. He was a foot taller than Harry and had to outweigh him by eighty pounds, not to mention he was incredibly well muscled. Harry typically took a submissive role in their lovemaking which suited them both.

Some might have been surprised that he was willing to give up control so easily after what his uncle had done to him but in truth, Harry never really thought about it anymore. Bill's touch was so different from his uncle's that he only rarely made the connection between what Bill and he did in bed together and what his uncle had done to him.

After a furiously passionate round of lovemaking the two collapsed into each other's arms to rest. Bill shifted Harry over so that Harry's head rested on his shoulder and wrapped his arms around Harry's slight form. He smiled over Harry's messy hair. His lover might feel significantly taller with his added two inches but he was still tiny. He slowly ran his fingers through the soft hair as they lay quietly, wrapped up in their own thoughts.

-

A/N: More to come later explaining a bit of how Harry can have a sexual relationship with Bill after his Uncle's molestation. Hope you enjoyed our lovely red head's entrance. Review!


	13. Learning of the Past

Chapter 13 

Severus looked up as Bill entered the room. He raised an eyebrow in inquiry when he noticed that Harry was not with him. "Harry's in the shower. He tends to shower quite a bit more than others."

Severus could no longer hold his comments in. "I'm surprised you didn't join him" he said sarcastically.

Bill smiled briefly and explained. "Harry has not yet gotten to the point where he feels safe showering with anyone else present."

This caught Severus' attention. "Has he ever told you why he finds showers so threatening?"

Bill shook his head. "I'm not certain but I can guess. I don't push him about things like this. He'll stop doing them when he is ready." Severus nodded briefly. "I'm glad that he trusted you enough to come here."

Snape looked at Bill in surprise. "He hardly trusts me. I still can't touch him."

"No but he trusted you enough to come to your house. Alone, in a strange place, with a man. Believe me, that is a sign of high trust from Harry. I find it absolutely incredible that he came here willingly. Not that I doubt you, I am just blown away. It is highly abnormal for Harry to trust so quickly."

Snape was deep in thought for a moment. "Frankly, it never occurred to me that he would refuse to come. I never really asked him, I just announced that we were coming here. He didn't object though, or even look as if he wished to." Snape quickly thought through their encounter. Did he force Harry into a situation he wasn't comfortable with? Merlin, he was a terrible father already!

"Don't worry about it. You would know if he didn't want to be here." He walked slowly over to an armchair and sat down. "I'm glad that Harry has warmed up to you so much. He needs a father, much as he wants to deny it. He still doesn't really understand what a father should do but we have been trying to help him over the years." The two men sat in silence for a while, both lost in their thoughts.

"I'm rather surprised that Harry was capable of being in a relationship with anyone, nevermind a man so much older and clearly larger than him" Snape suddenly said.

Bill smiled a bit. No matter how much Snape might want to deny it, he really did want to know about his relationship with Harry to make sure that he was good for his son. He would be a good father and friend for Harry. "I was surprised too at first. There are still times when there are problems, when Harry remembers things, but I do my best to keep him grounded and aware of everything. I won't let him close his eyes for more than a moment or two to keep him from slipping from reality."

Snape grunted, clearly wanting to strangle Bill at the very thought of him in bed with his son, but refraining. He was, after all, helping Harry to heal in some ways that he very obviously could not help with himself. His son had been victimized for his entire life in one form or another. He was probably lucky that it was someone as kind and trustworthy as a Weasley helping his son learn about relationships rather than someone who would take advantage of Harry's vulnerability. Harry didn't even know what a healthy relationship should be like. At least Weasley would never harm him.

"We moved very slowly. I think it helps that I am so different from anything he knew. As long as he is in the moment and not slipping into the past it would be impossible to mistake my touch for his." Bill was trying to get all the salient points out without telling his lover's father too much detail. "He hasn't had a problem for about 6 months now. I think it has actually helped him to heal, some. Having a boyfriend makes him feel normal, something that he desperately wants."

Snape grunted again. Yes, Harry did have an all-encompassing desire for normality. Everyone knew that. He still had questions though that he needed answers. He could tell where Harry was at now with relative clarity but he needed to know how he had been, what progress he had made. "How bad was he when you first met him?"

"Honestly? There were more times he was more wild animal than boy, operating on pure instinct, terrified of all of us. He came to the Burrow having fully accepted that our father would be using him much as his uncle did. When he realized that dad would not be doing anything to harm him he was shocked and clearly doubted our claims. He was still terrified of him but he was fascinated as well. He was constantly in defense mode. Being surrounded by seven men must have been the stuff of nightmares for him. It was no surprise that he latched onto Charlie so quickly.

"Charlie has a way with wounded creatures and he was somehow able to keep Harry calm and help him to relearn certain behaviors, to understand that he could expect to be physically safe at the Burrow. Harry followed him around the house for weeks, latching onto the only person he felt safe with. Although he has always felt no cause for concern around Ron he needed the added security of being near an adult who would protect him. He was able to see Charlie as a sort of mixture of an adult with power and a child who would not or could not harm him. Charlie helped him to feel more comfortable around adults, especially men."

"I don't understand how Harry's fear of his uncle has transferred to all men."

Bill paused. "I'm not entirely certain that his uncle was alone in his abuse of Harry. I think he might have…shared."

Severus closed his eyes for a moment then summoned a bottle of scotch and two glasses. He quickly poured two glasses and Bill gratefully accepted one. "Harry hasn't told me any details. He rarely even alludes to his time with the muggles. He has just unknowingly dropped a hint or two before" Bill said after quickly draining his glass. He needed a bit of strength for this discussion. Talking about the muggles was difficult in the best of situations: talking about them with Snape was taxing in the extreme.

"What hints? Are you certain you understood the meaning?" Snape knew he was grasping at straws here, but he didn't want to believe that his son had to endure this too.

"When we were having sex for the first time he was surprised when I prepared him. He told me that 'none of the others ever did it before.' I didn't comment on the slip. It was hardly a time for an in depth conversation about all of the men who had raped him."

"What exactly are you doing fucking my sixteen year old son?" Severus nearly screamed as he slammed his empty glass down on the table. Although Severus was aware that they were dating he had refused to consider that they may have moved beyond kisses and teenage fumbles.

Bill raised an eyebrow. "That is hardly a major concern, given what we are facing with his past abuse. I will say though, that Harry wanted to be with someone who cared for him. Even if I hadn't wanted it myself I still would not have denied him. How could I possibly tell him no when all he has ever known of sex is pain and degradation? I needed to show him that there was more to sex than one man's desire to hurt and humiliate another."

Severus immediately calmed down, bringing his rage to a low simmer. "I see. I suppose given the evidence that you are correct in your assessment of his situation." Bill hid a small smile. Evidently they were done speaking of Harry's sex life and were returning to his life with the muggles—a much safer, albeit more painful, topic.

"Is there anything else I should know about my son?" It hurt to ask someone else that question…a Weasley no less, but Severus would do whatever it took to learn what he needed to know.

"Nothing as major as what I have told you. I know that the only students he trusts are my sister, Ron, Hermione and Neville and Ginny and Neville are on the fringes of his trust. He trusts few, if any adults. He loved Sirius Black dearly and was nearly destroyed by his death. He was the first adult father figure that he had ever trusted. To have him ripped way like that was devastating."

Snape didn't comment but thought he might have to reevaluate his opinion of Black. He may have been an irritating prick but he had helped his son, somewhat, before he died. At least he had evidence now that his son could potentially trust a male adult.

The men sat in silence for a moment, sipping their scotch. Finally Snape broke the silence. "What are your intentions toward my son?"

Bill wanted to grin at the showing of fatherly concern but managed to hold it in. It wouldn't do to offend Snape at this point. "I love him."

"Does he know that?"

"I don't believe that Harry actually knows what love it. I don't think he recognizes it as such."

Severus nodded as he stared into his glass at the swirling liquid. "You are much older than him."

"Yes. Eleven years." He offered no more. How could he possibly explain? Harry was an adult in every way that mattered. He had been through more in his short life than most men of Dumbledore's advanced age. No teenager could ever satisfy Harry at this point. He could not endure a shallow, meaningless, child relationship.

Snape evidently was experiencing the same thoughts because he didn't comment on it. "Turning to drink already are we?" Harry's voice rang out in amusement from the doorway. Both men hid their surprise well from years of masking their emotions. Bill was not quite as skilled as Severus was but he had learned quickly, after meeting Harry. All of the Weasleys had, after needing to mask their horror at the things that Harry would occasionally let drop. They did not want to make him feel even more abnormal.

"It's not that early" Bill defended weakly.

Harry snorted. "It's not even one."

"Ah, well, yes. There is that." Bill smiled at Harry sheepishly. "Enjoy your shower?"

"You just wish you could have joined me" Harry quickly returned then froze for a moment and looked nervously at his father. Snape showed no sign of having even heard the last few sentences and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "So, what did I miss?" he said, trying to break the awkward silence.

Severus cleared his throat. "We were just discussing our plans for the upcoming school year."

Harry sat down on the arm of Bill's chair and leaned into his lover slightly. Even sitting up that much higher than Bill he could barely match his height. "Did you two come to any conclusions?"

"Not without discussing them with you first" Snape assured him. Bill listened to Snape closely, trying not to betray that he had no clue what the man was talking about. "I have found a small school that was recently opened by a distant relative of mine, Rianna Veyle. I contacted her late last night to discuss the possibility of providing you with papers. She agreed to allow you to come and sit your exams later this week."

"How large is the school? How are we going to take care of the fact that no one knows me?"

"There are only five in each year and there are only five years. Students are home schooled for what is considered to be your first two years at Hogwarts. Many of the students are relatives of some fashion or another and will be more than willing to stretch the truth. Those who seem less than willing will be given some false memories to fill in the blanks. We will also fabricate some school memorabilia—uniforms, books and photographs and such, to lend credence to our claim."

"It sounds pretty fool proof. Are there any drawbacks?"

"A few. We will be counting on a large portion of the students keeping their word. That makes me nervous. Rianna refused to allow us to memory modify very many of her students though. Not to mention that we need to track down all of the students who are at their summer homes, many of which are unplotable or under other strong spells."

Bill stepped in now that he had some idea of what they were speaking of. "Do you know how many of them are relatives? Of either you or me? Between the two of us we are related to most of the pureblood population."

Harry's face turned gray. "Merlin, I forgot."

Bill and Severus looked up quickly and noted his pallor. "What is the matter Harry?" his father asked gently.

"Aren't all purebloods related? Siri told me they were. Am I related to" he swallowed hard "the Weasleys now?" He twisted his hands together nervously.

Bill took his small hands in one of his larger hands and squeezed lightly. "There is nothing to worry about. The Weasleys and the Snapes are very far removed from each other. There are a few families that never cross over. The Weasleys have never married into the Snape, Black, or Malfoy families. We have been known to marry Potters though, just not for quite a few generations."

Harry let out a shaky breath. "It just never occurred to me that you might be related to me some way."

Snape smirked. "Back to the issue at hand. I believe, Weasley, that I am related to around a third of the students and you to about half. The Weasley family certainly does like to breed."

Bill smiled at this. Ron would have taken offense but he no longer took issue with comments about his family's breeding habits. Most comments, after all, were completely true. "Please call me Bill." Snape looked slightly nauseous but inclined his head in agreement.

"I suppose" he muttered "you may call me Severus." It sounded like the words pained him to speak.

"At any rate, can you get a list of the students? I can probably tell by looking at it which of my relatives will be safe for us and who we will need to implant memories in."

"This is an awful lot of trouble just for me. We can come up with another plan that will be easier. Or we can just tell everyone who I am."

"No. This is the best idea by far. It keeps you safe and far away from the media and it will allow you to progress in school to the level you should be at. This won't be hard at all."

Bill hid his surprise. The actual operation of the plan would be incredibly hard. Telling Harry that though would ensure that they couldn't do it though since Harry hated having people fuss over him. Severus knew his son better than he thought he did.

-

-

A/N: yes, I remember Snape saying the he and Harry were the only Snapes…they still are. They still have relatives though, that have different last names (more will be mentioned later). And yes, that can (and often does) happen, even in very large families. I personally have a total of 28 aunts and uncles and 61 first cousins (plus most of them are married now and have kids of their own) yet only 5 of them have my last name. So it does happen. Their case is a bit more tight than mine, but it _is_ possible.

That little insight into Vingilot's family life done, I wish to thank all of my reviewers. It still shocks me that someone aside from myself wants to read this. It thrills me to see all of your reviews everyday. Thanks for your kind and encouraging words!


	14. Reaching Out

Chapter 14 

Harry shifted impatiently in the bed. Bill's arms tightened their hold on him for a moment to keep him still, then returned to their previous occupation of running through Harry's long, silky hair. "What is bothering you, love?" It was late at night and he was ready to sleep. They had already had an extremely busy day what with planning Harry's future, trying to talk to Snape and christening the bed twice.

Harry sighed. "I don't know. I'm just confused. I feel like the whole world has changed around me."

"Well, in many ways it has. You now have a new look, a new last name and a father."

Harry was silent. When he spoke again he sounded incredibly hesitant and almost scared. "Do you suppose…do you suppose he really wants to be a father?"

"Of course he does. Why do you ask?"

"He didn't get much choice, did he? I mean, he was having a perfectly lovely summer and then he gets landed with me all of a sudden. No warning. Nothing. Snape doesn't even like kids."

Bill chuckled. "You're hardly a kid, Harry. It's not like he has to babysit you or tuck you in at night."

"I guess." Harry still sounded uncertain.

Bill slipped out from underneath Harry and lay on top of him, his arms bracing his weight on either side of Harry's face. "If Severus didn't want you he would never have taken you to his manor. He would have left you in Dumbledore's office that day. I think he wants this."

"But why?" Harry sounded so confused. Bill cursed the Dursleys in his head for the millionth time. They had instilled him with such little self worth that he could not comprehend someone actually wanting to be near him, to be his friend or lover or family.

"Why wouldn't he? You are incredibly smart and funny. You are a loyal friend and a fierce protector of those you love. You are one of the strongest wizards I have ever met. You are Slytherin enough even for a Snape to proudly lay claim to you. Although at one time he might not have chosen you as a son I think he would happily choose you now, even if he had his pick of any student at Hogwarts."

Harry was quiet for a moment as he thought about all of this. Although he doubted that Bill knew what he was talking about when he had listed his qualities he had to acknowledge that perhaps he was right about thinking that he might be Slytherin enough for Snape to like him. "What do I do?"

"About what?"

"I don't know how to be a son. What do I do?"

Bill dearly wanted to laugh but knew that he couldn't. Honestly, Harry and Severus were exactly alike. Both so wanted to be close to the other but didn't know how to do it. "It will come naturally. Don't force yourself to do anything you don't want to. Treat him like a good friend who is older than you until you feel comfortable treating him like a father. More of a research partner or something. You two have a lot in common. Just find something you enjoy doing together and spend some time getting to know him. Trust me, it will come."

"What should we do together? Maybe potions?"

"That might be a start. You know that he feels most at home in a potions lab. Reason says that he should be more willing to talk and be himself in the lab as well while he is working. You can also use the time to show him that you aren't totally incompetent at potions."

Harry lightly slapped Bill's arm away and pushed him to the side again to be used as his pillow. "I suppose so. You think this will be ok?"

"I think it will be brilliant. Trust your instincts. Do you feel any reason to back away from him?" He prayed silently that Harry would answer no. He wasn't quite certain what he would say if Harry told him he did feel reason to fear his father.

Harry thought about it for a moment. "No," he replied hesitantly "I don't. Do you think I might be reading him wrong?"

"No Harry. I think you are reading him perfectly. I don't think that he will ever hurt you. I know that your first instinct is to distrust men but I really feel that he is safe."

"Me too. Odd, isn't it?" Harry played lightly with Bill's chest hair. Bill covered the small hand with his own to stop Harry's innocent but incredibly erotic touches.

"Not really, no. You _should_ feel safe around your father."

"Merlin. I guess he is my father, huh?"

"Just now figuring that out?"

Harry tweaked a nipple indignantly causing Bill to let out a most undignified squeak. "You act like it is normal to find out at the age of almost-seventeen that your father isn't your father and that someone who hates you is really the man who spawned you. Or something like that."

"When has anything remotely normal happened to you?"

"Hmmm. Wouldn't that be wonderful?" Harry's hand began his gently stroking of Bill's chest once again as he was lost in his daydream. "Someday I want to have a perfectly normal life. A nice home and a wonderful husband and lots of kids and a puppy. Maybe even a white picket fence. No crazed Dark Lords, no demented headmasters, no irritating ministry. Just me, my husband and the kids."

"Sounds awful to me. I think you'd die of all the normalness."

Harry launched himself on top of his lover and started tickling him mercilessly. "Much you know. I'm sure your dream is practically the same smart ass." Bill's wiggling beneath him quickly changed his plan from punishing his lover to seducing him, not that it ever took much effort. The giggles quickly turned to moans as Harry bent to take an earlobe between his teeth. Sleep was delayed even more for the lovers.

Severus looked up in amusement as Harry and Bill stumbled onto the balcony where breakfast was being served. The two made their way over to the side table to pour some coffee and he smiled as he saw them unconsciously helping each other. As Harry searched for the sugar Bill located the cream and poured a tiny bit in his own cup and a healthy amount in his lover's. Sugar being found, Harry added one lump to Bill's and three to his own as Bill stirred both cups. Having always been deprived of such things as cream and sugar at the Dursleys Harry had developed an unusually strong taste for them, taking delight in what was once forbidden.

They finally turned to the table and threw themselves into seats, Harry wincing slightly as he readjusted himself. Severus decided to ignore that.

"Late night, gentlemen?"

Harry glared at his father good-naturedly as he helped himself to some fruit. Bill heaped his plate with eggs and bacon. Harry had never been able to enjoy any of the traditional breakfast foods after having to cook them daily for as long as he could remember. While some things that had been forbidden felt like treats to have now, breakfast was not one of them. Too many punishments had been linked to him trying to steal a bite to eat in the morning after a long night of hunger.

"What do you plan to do today?"

Bill hastily swallowed his food. "I need to go back to the Burrow for a few hours to check in with mum. She was anxious to know how Harry was and what was going on. I can also deliver Harry's letters of explanation. We didn't want to trust them to an owl. I'll also swing by Hermione's to give her her letter."

"Will you be returning this evening?"

"If that is possible, Severus." Snape wanted to snap at the boy for his use of his personal name but grudgingly recalled that he had given the boy use of it the other day. Damn, Harry really was making him soft. Allowing Gryffindors to use his name, indeed. At the rate he was going he would practically be a Gryffindor himself by week's end. He tried to gather his composure after that terrifying thought.

"I shall make you a permanent portkey which will allow you access to the manor. It will only work for you though, do not attempt to give it to Weasley or Granger."

"Of course. Thanks."

"And you, Harry?"

Harry swallowed nervously. Severus grew nervous himself, wondering what Harry wanted to do that was so nerve wracking for him to even mention. "I thought I might help you in the lab today, sir. If you want me to, that is."

Snape swallowed his grin. His son wanted to work with him! The boy had even suggested it himself: he hadn't needed to be talked into it! "Of course. I am always busy in the summers restocking the hospital wing. Your help would be of great assistance." Harry gave him a small smile, clearly relieved that he had not been rejected. "Shall we meet in the lab in an hour? Do you remember how to get there?"

Harry nodded his head and bent to his food once again. Bill hastily finished his meal and suggested that they go dress for the day. Severus looked after his son and his lover as they left the balcony. Perhaps Bill wasn't as stupid as most Gryffindors. He had, after all, managed to come to the manor, cheer his son up, make him more comfortable with the situation and then promptly make himself scarce so he could spend some time alone with his son. He refolded the paper and set it aside. He needed to get ready to spend the day with his son!


	15. Getting to Know You

Chapter 15 

Severus and Harry reached the door to the lab at the same time. Severus motioned for Harry to proceed him into the room. Harry looked slightly wary but did so, quickly stepping to the side so that the potions master would be to his side and not completely behind him.

Severus ignored that and continued to one of the many freestanding counters and pulled three cauldrons out from underneath the counter top. He handed the smallest one to Harry. "Can you make Pepper Up draft?"

Harry nodded and accepted the cauldron. He started to set up a workstation on the opposite side of the table that his father was working at. He had to reach up a bit to place things correctly. The entire lab had been built for Severus so everything had been designed to perfectly accommodate him. The counters were thus uncomfortably high for Harry. "Sorry the counters are so high. There is a stool over there if you would prefer it."

Harry smiled his thanks and he went over to the corner to fetch the tall stool. Snape was glad he had one made: he almost had foregone the stool since he rarely sat while working on a potion.

Severus pulled the ingredients down from the shelves for Harry. The shelves would definitely need to be fixed in order for his son to ever really use the lab. The ingredients were stocked on shelves high over each counter: a convenient location for Severus to reach while still stirring a potion but virtually impossible for someone as small as Harry. There were some even _he _had trouble reaching and he was a good foot taller than his son. He would call his contractor later today to have everything fixed.

The two men worked quietly together but the silence did not feel strained at all. Snape eventually noticed his son's growing discomfort though, as he seemed to be building up his courage to speak.

"What do I call you?"

Severus halted his motions for a moment. Although not entirely unexpected, he still was uncertain what to say. "Whatever you feel comfortable with Harry. I would prefer either Severus or Father."

Harry nodded but did not respond. They worked in silence again for a few minutes. "Should I make any of this without the Karab root?"

"Why?"

"Three Ravenclaws, a Hufflepuff and two Slytherins are allergic to it."

"How on earth do you know that?"

Harry had the grace to look embarrassed. "I know a lot of things about everyone at Hogwarts. I get bored at night when I can't sleep."

"Do I even want to know how you know such things about students' private medical histories?" Harry shook his head. "Alright then. Go ahead and finish that batch. We'll make a separate batch for the others. Poppy goes through so much Pepper Up that if I only give her a partial batch of the regular potion she will run out before Halloween."

Harry nodded and bent down to get another cauldron to set up for his second batch. Severus paused his work again to pull down the additional ingredients needed.

Harry once again broke the silence. "Will I take classes with your regular students as an apprentice?"

"I'm not quite sure. I need to test where you truly are at then decide. You will most likely teach my first years and possibly take over half of the lessons for my second years. You will also assist me with the upper levels. We will have a few hours a week to work one on one on some of the more difficult potions that I do not attempt with the students."

"I had thought most of my time would be spent learning new potions, like in class."

"A large part of becoming a master at potions comes from having advanced senses about potions. This is either something that is innate, as it was with me, or learned, as it is with most witches and wizards. The more time you spend around potions, making them over and over, teaching them to those who know less or simply preparing ingredients, the more you will become attuned to the subtle magic of potions making.

"You might feel as if you aren't learning anything by teaching first years but you will be. It is one of the reasons that many potion masters often choose to teach for their first fifty years or so. It helps to sharpen their senses by attuning them to the very basics of potions making. If a potion master does not return to such basics occasionally, strangely enough, they start to lose their skill."

"I always wondered why you taught. You don't seem to like it very much."

Snape smirked at his son's obvious understatement. "Yes, well, it was a combination of a desire to stay attuned to my work and a desire to stay alive. When Dumbledore bailed me out of the situation during the First War he "asked" me to sign a contract stating that I would work at Hogwarts until my children graduated. I thought it a strange clause at the time but ignored it as I had no children and could not see any in my future."

Harry's face fell. He wasn't wanted. Snape would send him away now, he was sure of it. He couldn't stay at Ron's and he refused to go to the Headmaster to seek protection. He would have to go back to the Dursley's.

Severus caught the expression on his son's face and hurried to explain. "I had no social life to speak of and sincerely doubted my ability to find any woman who would put up with me long enough to get a child. It was not that I had no desire for children." Harry's face brightened marginally and Snape breathed an internal sigh of relief. He needed to remember to be more careful with his words around his son until he felt more comfortable with him.

"So Dumbledore already knew about me when you signed the contract?"

"Yes."

Harry didn't say anything else. He quickly started to decant the finished potion into single serving vials. Snape was rather amazed at Harry's skill. Although it was a simple potion Harry had done it flawlessly without consulting a text. He had also evidently known how to alter the potion to serve the needs of special case patients. The potion frankly looked better than some of the potions he had sent up to the infirmary. Perhaps his son was more of a natural than he had originally thought.

Come to think of it, it actually took immense skill to make potions as badly as Harry had done at school. While Harry's potions often exploded they always did so safely, creating bright flashes of light, loud noises or clouds of smoke but the explosions themselves were never dangerous. A truly incompetent brewer would not have any sort of control over it. Potions were incredibly dangerous for a reason. An incompetent brewer could easily kill someone by adding the wrong ingredient at the wrong time.

Harry's ruined potions were always flashy, designed to draw attention to his supposed incompetence. It took incredible knowledge and patience to perfectly and safely botch potions on the scale that Harry did. It was an absolutely ingenious cover: one that he himself had not seen through until Harry wanted him to see the truth.

Harry began to sift through the ingredients to organize them for his second batch. He impatiently pushed up his long sleeves as he pulled himself up on the tall stool once again. Snape studied the tattoos once again out of the corner of his eye. His skilled eye skipped past the bands of runes up further on his arm. If he was not mistaken there was what appeared to be the tail of a snake tattoo wrapped around his son's left arm moving gently, continuing, presumably, up past his elbow.

Harry noticed his father's gaze and shifted uncomfortably. "Do you want me to put the glamour back on?"

Snape looked up, startled. "What? Why?"

"So you don't have to look at my tattoos."

"Don't you like them?"

"I love them. I drew quite a few of them and they all have meaning, even if it is only known to me. I just didn't want to bother you."

"Why on earth would your tattoos bother me?" Snape closed his eyes for a moment. That was a rather stupid question given that his son seemed to have a fervent desire to disappear from sight entirely. The tattoos _were_ rather eye-catching. "No, Harry. You don't need to replace the glamour. I like your tattoos. I was just curious about the snake one. Seemed an odd choice for a Gryffindor."

"Yes but I'm not a Gryffindor. At least, not really. I got this one done about two years ago in a small magical body art shop. I wanted a fully magical snake so it would move. It helps me when I speak Parseltongue. She looks like one of my friends from Privet Drive."

Snape started at the fact that his son had a snake he could call friend. "Is your _friend_ still there?"

Harry looked sad for a moment but quickly recovered his generally calm appearance. "No. Aunt Petunia didn't like snakes. But then, Seatha (Say-ah-tha) didn't really like Aunt Petunia. Seatha was angry at Aunt Petunia for…something and she tried to get revenge. So Aunt Petunia set traps and killed her."

"Why was she angry at your Aunt?" Severus was relieved that although Harry would rarely offer information up front he would also rarely deny information if asked the right questions.

Harry looked up at his father for a moment, then looked back to the shrivelfig he was slicing. "The family left on a mini break for a few days and she had locked me outside without any food or shelter. It wasn't so bad though. I mean, it was summer. And it didn't rain once. Seatha shouldn't have gotten so upset."

Snape prayed for patience. He was certain that the 'few days' that Harry had spoken of was a week or more. "Seatha had plenty of reason to be upset, Harry. The muggles should have taken you with them on a family trip. Barring that, they should have at least given you the run of the house and plenty of already prepared meals. Every child deserves food and shelter."

"I suppose."

"It is not something that can be debated Harry. It is a basic fact. Every child deserves at least that" Severus said firmly but gently. Harry shrugged, clearly done debating the point. Severus decided to let it go for the moment. "I think your tattoos might help you next year."

"How?"

Snape started decanting his own potion as he spoke. "It will look mysterious enough as it is with Harry Potter disappearing around the same time as my son appears. Not to mention that although you have changed greatly you are still similar in build. People might suspect that you are Harry Potter under a glamour."

Harry snorted. "I'd love to see their faces when they decided to test _that_ theory out. I can just see some brave soul shouting _finite_ at me and having nothing happen."

Snape smirked. "Your tattoos will be just another thing to separate you from Harry Potter. It would clearly be impossible for Harry Potter to have gotten that many tattoos over the summer and everyone knows that Harry had no tattoos. How _did_ you get people to tattoo you when you were so young? You were around 12 when you got your first tattoo, weren't you?"

"I mainly applied glamours to my face and went into muggle London. They thought I was an abnormally small adult since I gave myself a few wrinkles and gray hair. I also got a few over the summer near my house. They knew I was underage but they didn't care since they knew I didn't have any parents and I clearly already had some done.

"I didn't get my first wizard tattoo until I was 13 and by then Ron helped me forge a note from my "parents" and I again put a glamour on my face to keep them from knowing it was me. Ron and Mione had to have glamours too when they went with me. It would be too suspicious for Harry Potter's friends to be in a tattoo shop with a third person, regardless of what he looked like."

"I see. At any rate, people should realize that it would be impossible for us to have come up with this plan this summer and have gotten you the tattoos to disguise yourself as my son in the amount of time that you would have had this summer. It should help to distance you from the Boy Who Lived."

Harry smiled. "There is that. Guess people will be less likely to make the connection between him and me if I am covered in tattoos that clearly took years worth of work to create."

"It can only be hoped. You must be prepared though to spend less time around Weasley and Granger. It would look very bad if my son appeared at Hogwarts at the same time that Harry Potter disappeared and immediately made close friends with Harry Potter's two best friends."

Harry frowned and chewed on his bottom lip as he pondered this new problem. "What will I do then?" Snape was slightly surprised at his son's calm examination of the situation and acceptance of the reasonable solution to the problem. He had expected something more…tears maybe, or accusations, or…well…something more Gryffindor. He bit back a sigh. He _really_ needed to stop thinking of his son as a Gryffindor. He clearly thought and acted like a snake.

"You will need to have a few other friends, or at least acquaintances. It would look best if they were Slytherins. I thought I might invite my godson over later in the summer to let you spend some time together. He will help you out and it would make sense for the two of you to know each other."

"Who is your godson?" Harry asked, dreading the answer.

"Draco Malfoy. Don't worry" Snape laughed lightly at Harry's expression, "he's not as bad as he seems. I know he acts like a spoiled brat but he truly isn't. Although his childhood was nothing like yours it was not as idyllic as it would seem. He has always been rather close with me, given who his father is."

"I don't suppose I would run to Lucius Malfoy for advice either if I had a problem" Harry said as he wrinkled his nose.

"Not really. Anyhow, he usually spends a week or two with me during the summer. We can tell him what you wish, but either way I know he will help us."

"He hates me. I somehow doubt he will help me if he knows who I am." Harry finished adding the final ingredients and proceeded to slowly stir the bubbling cauldron clockwise.

"Draco likes you more than he lets on. I believe he just enjoys bickering with you at this point. I've noticed the lack of any real animosity between you two for the past year or so."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. His father may have a point. He certainly couldn't say anymore that he actively _disliked_ Draco, he just wasn't certain that he liked him. Well, perhaps he did like his a bit. He did enjoy their spats. "Perhaps. I'm not sure what I want to tell him yet. Can I think about it?"

"Of course. Take your time. We will tell him whatever you want to tell him whenever you are ready."

-

-

A/N: If it wasn't clear already, I have no idea about potions and ingredients. I make it all up. I clearly also made up my theory about why Severus teaches and why it would be helpful for a master to teach children. In my mind potions is related to cooking. A brilliant chef can not only make fancy French dishes but they can also make damn good mac n' cheese. A lot about being a brilliant chef is knowing how to take the same everyday ingredients and make something extraordinary. Thus my potions theory. Hope I haven't offended anyone's sensibilities. Review please!


	16. Understanding the Past

  
Chapter 16 

Bill portkeyed back into the manor that evening, arriving in the study as he had done before. No one was there to greet him as he had not given any sort of arrival time to anyone before he left. He stuck his head into the hall and called out. "Hello Snapes? Anyone home?"

He heard Harry's light laugh and Snape's deeper voice grumbling something that was no doubt snarky in return. "We're in here Bill!" Harry called out.

Bill followed their voices to what appeared to be a large dressing room and his jaw dropped in shock. Here was a sight he would have never in his wildest dreams come up with.

Harry stood on a small stool draped in deep charcoal velvet. He had on a tight, black, long sleeved shirt and pants instead of being fitted naked as most wizards were. He also sported tight black gloves. He could only imagine the story Snape came up to explain his son's clothing choices to the tailor. Then again, Snape no doubt simply glared the tailor into silence rather than offering any explanation at all.

A small, elderly wizard knelt at his side, his mouth stuffed with pins. Measuring tapes and thread bobbed around in the air, obeying the tailor's silent commands. Snape sat in a chair to the side, observing the whole fiasco. Bill finally gave in and laughed at the spectacle. "What on earth is going on?"

Snape gave a low, muttered "Gryffindors" under his breath, causing Bill to laugh even louder.

"I'm getting some new clothes" Harry filled in. "Se…Severus decided I needed some." He looked slightly embarrassed at calling the man by his name but he pushed on. He _had_ been told to call him that after all.

Snape's expression lightened marginally, clearly pleased that his son had taken his advice. Although he would have been thrilled to be called Father it was perhaps better that Harry chose what he was comfortable with rather than something he wasn't ready to use yet. At least he wasn't being called "The Professor" anymore. Now he would know that Harry really wanted to call him Father whenever he chose to do so for the first time. It would mean more that it was a conscious decision and not something forced on him.

Bill smiled too, pleased that the day had clearly gone well for his lover and his new father. "I can see that you are getting new clothes. I am just amazed by the sheer quantity of stuff."

"Eloquent as always, Mr. Weasley. My son needs to be dressed up to the pureblood standard that the Slytherins will be expecting from the Snape heir. Harry must fill the role properly or else no one will believe it." Bill raised an eyebrow and nodded toward the tailor. "Don't worry, we have a servant spell up. He can only hear us if he asks us a direct question that we need to answer."

Bill nodded and continued the previous discussion. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Not many families can get away with dressing like the Weasleys."

"You all dress fine. I love your mum's jumpers. They're my favorite clothes" Harry said as he lightly brushed his fingers over the gorgeous velvet. Severus rolled his eyes but refrained from comment. Bill snorted loudly.

"You clearly have no fashion sense at all love. My mum's homemade clothes are terrible. They're awful colors and they don't ever fit right!"

"I think they're brilliant. I'd never gotten a Christmas present before and it was so exciting opening my Christmas jumper. I hope she gives me one this year, last year's is getting worn out."

Bill smiled at his sweet but completely clueless lover. Clearly, he had no comprehension of the difference between fifty galleon velvet robes and a crappy hand knit jumper. The thing of it was that Harry wasn't trying to be nice. He truly _did_ love the horrible jumpers that were made each year with such care by his mum. He was probably the only one who truly appreciated the time and effort she put into them each year.

"Just the same, I believe that you will need slightly more formal clothing to wear at Hogwarts" Snape finally said, hopefully ending the debate. He supposed he should no longer be shocked by these revelations that Harry kept dropping about his home life. After all, muggles who beat and raped him could hardly be expected to give him Christmas gifts. Their cruelty still shocked him though.

"I believe I am done with these Master Snape. Will you be needing anything else?" the tailor asked as he took the charcoal fabric off of Harry's form.

The room filled with silence. Bill smacked Harry on his arm to remind him that _he_ was Master Snape now. "What? Oh, no. I think that's all."

"Very well. I'll have these delivered as soon as they are done. I should have a few robes and trousers completed by week's end and I'll go on and send them up. I'll send the rest as I get them done. Nothing for you this time, Lord Snape?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. _Lord_ _Snape_? Clearly he had a lot to learn about purebloods.

"No, I believe this will be it for now. Please bill my Gringott's account as usual."

"Of course. Good day, sir." The tailor gathered his supplies, shrunk the massive pile of fabric and left the room, escorted to the door by a uniformed house elf.

Once Harry was certain that they were alone again he asked his question. "_Lord _Snape? Since when are you titled?" He slowly pulled his gloves off as he waited for the answer.

"All of the heads of the pureblood families carry a title. I am the oldest Snape therefore the title goes to me. You will carry it when I die."

Harry thought of that for a moment and turned to Bill. "Is your dad really Lord Weasley?"

"No. Dad has an older uncle who holds the position. After him it will go to my dad's cousin. If he dies without any children it will go to my dad. I doubt that will all happen though. His cousin is only about 50, he still has plenty of time to father children."

"That is so weird."

"You will need to learn about all of this before you return to Hogwarts. A properly raised pureblood would know exactly who holds the title in each family and who is set to inherit it. You should also be aware of how far removed someone is from a title. Most Slytherins know exactly how many people would have to die in order for them to inherit."

"That's terrible!"

Snape shrugged his shoulders. "Nonetheless, they will all know it and will expect you to as well. Your rank will be quite high as you are not only set to inherit but you are the only one set to inherit. No one will be trying to kill you to up their chances of gaining a title."

"People _do _that?" Harry was appalled.

"Not often, no, but it is something that many do keep in mind. Your situation is quite impressive."

"Damn strange, if you ask me. Who is impressed by the fact that I can't seem to keep family members alive for more than a few minutes?"

Bill and Severus exchanged looks. Bill nodded to Severus, indicating that he would handle it. "Harry, it is hardly your fault that family members have been lost. You truly had nothing to do with the Snape deaths. You just found out you were a Snape a few days ago! And your mum died in battle, something that cannot be controlled."

"It was hardly during battle. We were just at home, trying to hide from trouble."

Snape cut in. "Voldemort was after your parents as well as you that night. He had wanted to kill them long before Lily was even pregnant with you. You had nothing to do with his actions that night. And although a true battle might not have occurred in your home that night it was all part of a larger battle. Although if brings little comfort, they did die war heroes."

"But I did kill Siri, didn't I?" Harry looked down at his feet, seemingly very interested in the Persian rug that he was standing on.

Snape knelt down in front of his son and touched his arms lightly over his thick sleeves. Harry looked up, startled, then calmed slightly when he saw who it was. "You had nothing to do with that. The Dark Lord was sending you the visions and he was undoubtedly influencing your thoughts as well. Free from influence, perhaps you would have thought twice about going to the ministry that night but you weren't free from His influence. The Dark Lord tricked you as He has tricked many wizards: older and wiser wizards too. You are in no way responsible for Black's decision to follow you or for Lestrange's actions during the fight."

Harry looked into his father's eyes for a moment, thinking over what he had just heard. It was clear that he did not entirely believe in his own innocence but it was also evident that Snape had said something that was making him think.

"You think Voldemort was controlling my thoughts too?"

Bill slowly wrapped his arms around his shoulders, effectively placing Harry into a three-way hug, although his father's hold on him was still very loose. Harry again momentarily tensed as he evaluated the new situation but he gradually relaxed. "Harry, you might do many things on the spur of the moment but tell me, do you really think you would have ever thought, on your own, that it was a _good_ idea to break into the ministry in the middle of the night?"

Harry leaned back into his lover's embrace as he thought about it. "No" he said thoughtfully. "I can't imagine I would have. Do you really think maybe I was being influenced by more than just a few visions?" he sounded amazed at the possibility that he was not entirely culpable for his godfather's death.

"Yes, Harry, I am convinced of it." Snape looked in his son's eyes, willing him to see his sincerity. Harry nodded slowly and a small weight seemed to be removed from his shoulders.

Snape nodded in return and slowly stood back up. Inside he was bursting with happiness that his son had accepted his touch as comforting. He still couldn't touch his son without a layer of clothing as protection but they were making progress.

They needed a change of topic to allow Harry some time to process his roiling thoughts. "Were you able to explain the situation to Molly?"

"Yes. She was thrilled to find out that you two are related." Severus raised an eyebrow at that statement. He hardly thought that anyone in her right mind would be _thrilled _that the Golden Boy was related to a Death Eater. Bill hurried to explain. "She has wanted to adopt Harry herself for many years but Dumbledore wouldn't let her. Then once we started…" he did not say the word itself, though it was clear that 'dating' was understood to belong in the small gap left "she decided that perhaps that wouldn't be the best idea so she stopped pushing it. She was overjoyed to know that Harry had a real family again."

Harry was largely ignoring their conversation as he was thinking about what he had learned.

"Your mother knows of your relationship?"

"Yes. She found out about a year ago. She wasn't too pleased at first but she quickly adjusted. Now I think she's just pleased that Harry is dating one of her children, although I think she had hoped it would be Ginny or Ron."

Snape nodded at the new information. He could understand a mother wishing that her children would date people close to their own age. He moved on to what he was really concerned about. "How did Weasley react to the news?"

"I warned him before I gave him the letter that there were some pretty big things in it. I told him he needed to think carefully before he responded in any way to the letter. He read it quickly and looked about ready to throw a fit but then he sat back and read it again more slowly. He completely bypassed the stage of anger directed at you that Harry and I expected and went in straight for Dumbledore. He's not a very popular man at the Burrow right now."

"I would imagine not" Severus said dryly. "He will support Harry?"

"Of course. He is at the Burrow right now coming up with plans for next year as well as trying to find any loopholes that we may not have thought of." Snape looked skeptical at this statement.

"He really is brilliant at strategy. He helped me to plan the tattoos" Harry finally joined into the conversation.

"You've mentioned this before. What exactly do you mean, plan the tattoos? Aside from the runes it hardly mattered what else you got, did it?"

"Actually it was one of the most important parts. Perhaps even more important than the runes themselves. We needed a specific mixture of artwork with a certain proportion of muggle to magical tattoos of certain sizes and placements to support the immense power in the runes. If we had gotten it wrong it might have fried my skin instead of an attacker's."

"Explain." Snape knew he was getting short with his son but damn it, these things were getting more and more complex. How the hell had he hidden this from under their noses for so long?

"We figured out that if all of the tattoos were magical in nature that my skin would have too much magic running through it to properly ground the excess magic from the runes. If they were all muggle though then they would be completely incapable of retaining any magic at all, making the runes just pretty shapes with no innate power. We needed to figure out the exact percentage of tattoos that needed to be muggle and what needed to be magical.

"More though, we needed to ensure not only the number of tattoos that fit into each category but also the surface area of skin that was concerned. If I had an equal number of each but all of my muggle tattoos were quite small then the power of the runes would overflow and I would be burned. If I had an equal number of each and the muggle ones were larger than the magical ones then the magic would be overwhelmed by spreading itself too thin and it would never work reliably. If they were equal in everything then the runes might cancel themselves out completely."

"What the hell did you do then?"

"Hermione and I figured out that I needed to have 62percent muggle and 38 percent magical but that the magical tattoos should cover a larger proportion of my body than the muggle ones by 11percent. By keeping the muggle ones smaller it stored the excess magical discharge in more locations that were small enough not to cause any harm."

Snape's head was spinning. "Does this make sense to you Bill?"

"Somewhat. I don't quite understand how they arrived at the numbers they did or how they knew they needed a mixture in the first place or how they knew the possible reactions if they got it wrong. Um…all in all, no, I don't really have any clue what he is talking about."

"Unbelievable. Dare I ask if there is more?"

"Just a bit. We also needed to plan what went where to ensure that everything was properly spaced out. It helped if each tattoo had a personal meaning, especially the magical ones. It tends to strengthen them. I had to ensure that the emotions tied to the tattoos were at least somewhat balanced as well."

"Balanced?"

"I couldn't very well put tattoos that were tied to negative emotions all in the same place, could I? It would disrupt the peaceful flow of magic over my skin. I needed to tie the happy memories with the sad, the angry with the tranquil. Since I couldn't just get tattooed from head to toe all in one go I had to plan out exactly what I was getting, how large it would be, where it would go and whether it would be done magically or by muggle methods before I even started. Or at least before I got very much done."

Snape shook his head in an attempt to clear it. This was all entirely too overwhelming. That his son was able to do this at all was unbelievable. That he had started this project when he was eleven and essentially completed the large part of the theory of it by the age of thirteen was completely incomprehensible. He hadn't finished the spell until he was sixteen but he had clearly understood what he needed to do within less than two years of starting his project. Inconceivable.

"I'm starved" Harry announced suddenly. "Can we go get something to eat?"

Severus absently waved his son and Bill toward the door. He needed some time to take it all in. Just when he thought Harry could no longer surprise him he would lay something like this down on him. Merlin, the boy was a genius. He was making magical breakthroughs as if they were child's play. He couldn't wait to test his son's strength. He needed to ask Bill to stop by his vault and get that focus stone for him.

-

-

A/N: Clearly made up the servant spell. I wrote him in the scene and then realized that he couldn't hear a lot of what they were talking about unless I made him a family member who dearly loved Severus and would keep his secret or somehow made a way for him to not hear certain things. Oops.


	17. Time to Hit the Books

Chapter 17 

Severus walked slowly towards Harry's bedroom door. Much as he dreaded it, he needed to speak to his son. He wished he received the information earlier and could have told them over dinner or else asked them to stay for drinks afterward. It would have been so much easier then. Merlin, he could only pray that his son and Weasley weren't…busy.

He knocked hesitantly on the door, listening closely for a reply. Harry's confused "Come in" was heard almost immediately, relieving him of some of his concern. Clearly, they weren't too involved if they were able to answer so quickly. He cautiously pushed open the door and saw Harry and Bill sitting in the chairs by the fire, reading quietly.

"Sorry to disturb you in your room, Harry, but I wanted to give you an update on our plans for next school year."

Harry sat up straighter in his chair, clearly eager for news. "What have you found out?"

"Well, I've received the list of students who attend Rianna's school. Luckily for us, she only opened it four years ago, only accepting a few students in your age range to start with. She added a few students each year. The twenty-five students that she is currently teaching are the only students that we need to deal with in any way."

"That'll make things easier. Can I see the list of names Severus?" Bill held his hand out for the list which Severus passed over.

Harry, seeing that there weren't enough seats, stood up and went to sit next to Bill on the arm of his chair, offering his chair to his father. Severus gave a small smile in reply as he settled down to wait for Bill's perusal of the list.

"Hmm…I believe that 12 are moderately close relatives…cousins or second cousins. All from families that are neutral in the war or else on the side of the light. Three more are very distantly related and their families' politics are rather questionable. Two are from Weasley-Nott unions and one is from a Weasley-Goyle union." Harry wrinkled his nose at the knowledge that his lover was, however distantly, somehow related to Gregory Goyle.

"That was what I thought as well. I have seven relatives, all close enough to ensure their cooperation. That leaves only 3 students that we will definitely have to implant memories in and three that we might need to. Not bad." Snape thought out loud. "Yes, I believe this will work well. We are in much better shape than I was anticipating."

"I'm surprised that you…I mean we have many relatives that would be willing to lie to Voldemort for me" Harry said.

"It is not so much that they will be willing to lie to the Dark Lord as that they will always support family above all else. My immediate family was actually the only branch of the extended family that actively supported the Dark Lord, the rest are either neutral or, at best, unmarked and inactive supporters of the cause. Six of the seven children I spoke of come from openly neutral families. The other is the daughter of a man who occasionally supports the Dark Lord's efforts but who is unmarked and who refuses to allow his daughter to be marked. I am sure that he can be made to listen to reason."

"What if they are talking together about needing to pretend to know me and someone overhears? Isn't this still too easy to uncover?"

"It is a potential problem but all we can do is impress upon them the seriousness of the matter and ask of them not to speak of it to anyone."

Harry sat still for a moment, chewing his bottom lip pensively. "Perhaps…perhaps we could use a spell to prevent them from talking about it."

"But we need them to talk about it. We need them to be able to convince anyone who asks that you did go to school there. If they can't mention you then we won't have achieved anything" Bill explained.

"No. I mean, what if we used a spell that prevented them from ever saying or hinting that your son and Harry Potter are one person or that your son just appeared from no where this summer."

"That would be brilliant, if such a spell existed" Severus said, getting a bit impatient. He knew the plan wasn't foolproof but there wasn't a lot of choice in the matter.

"Hmm…" Harry stood and walked slowly over to the bookshelves and started sifting through the books. Bill and Severus exchanged looks of confusion but remained silent. Harry took down occasional books as he perused the shelves. When his arms were full he turned to Bill and plopped the stack down on his lap and turned once again to the shelves. Harry grabbed three more books and quickly walked out of the room with no further explanation. Severus again looked to Bill for some sort of interpretation of his son's actions and he saw that Bill was just as confused as he was. The two men quickly stood up and followed Harry, Bill juggling a huge stack of books, and just glimpsed him as he turned the corner. Following quickly they saw the door to the library shut slowly and they rushed on to see what Harry was doing now.

They entered the library to see Harry standing on a small stepladder straining on his toes to reach some books on the top shelf. He already had a large pile of the books on the ground around him. Severus and Bill exchanged twin looks of wonder. How in the hell had Harry moved so quickly?

Harry finally reached the book in question and stepped down from the ladder and plopped himself in the middle of his pile of books, flipping through a few almost simultaneously. He would stop and read a passage and then either continue flipping pages or else set it to the side, opened to the correct page. Bill gently placed the enormous stack of books on the ground at Harry's right side, knowing he tended to place books he still needed to consult on his right when he was in his research mode. Severus bent down to see what exactly it was that his son was reading so intently.

-

Light Curses to Control the Mind 

_Although the most well-known mind control spell, the Imperious curse, is dark in nature, there are many light options available for the discerning wizard. This family of spells_ _can be distinguished from the Imperious curse by the ability of the caster to simultaneously cast it on multiple individuals and to influence but not control the receiver. The spells are not as strong as the Imperious curse either, and cannot force an individual to do anything that they do not already have a desire to do…._

_-_

_Memory Binding Potion_

_The Memory Binding Potion may be used to help bind a specific memory inside a mind without damaging the drinker of the potion. The memory will remain fully accessible to the person in question but it cannot be reached by any mind magic or forced out through use of truth serums. The Memory Binding Potion should not be used more than three times in any lifetime. Damage to the mind or problems with existing unprotected memories may occur if used too often. _

_1 shrivelfig, finely sliced_

_3 ml juiced beetles_

_2 1/2 tsp dried and crushed dragon heartstrings…_

_-_

_Setting Your Curse to a Word Controlled Operation_

_In order to set your curse to be controlled by a specific word or words you must first determine which of fifteen categories your curse fits into. The first category is that of pain inducing curses, those which cause the victim to feel pain but not experience any physical manifestations of the ailment. The second is wound inducing curses, those which create visible wounds on the victim's body as well as the accompanying sensations. This does not include those curses which create physical ailments but do not create the sensations that typically arrive with them…._

_-_

_Protecting Your Mind_

_When in danger of mind magics, the victim's best protection comes from a variety of protective mind magics. The most well known skill is that of occlumency which allows the wizard in question to protect their mind by placing it behind a…._

_-_

Severus looked at his son, his thoughts running furiously. Most of the books were closely tied in with memory or mind related theories but there was no connection between all of them. Some of them were personal defenses that could not be cast on another person and others were curses that were only intended to be cast against someone. What exactly was he trying to do? "Harry? Harry, can you tell me what you are doing?"

Harry didn't look up, he simple traded the thick tome he was flipping through for another. "I'm researching" he said absently as he looked for what he needed. "Do you have a copy of Desidus Nesterius' _Mind Magicks of the Eleventh Century_ here?"

"I believe so. If I find it will you tell me what you are researching?"

Harry didn't respond, he simply waved his father and lover away to look for the book. Bill rolled his eyes and walked over to Severus to help him locate the book. "Don't worry. He gets like that when he's researching. Not much can stop him now. He'll take a break when he's good and ready. Seems he knows what he's looking for though, he's just double checking passages he's already read. That'll save us some time and stress."

"But _what_ is he researching?"

"Who knows. I' m sure he'll have some sort of crazy explanation when he's done. Do you really have that book?"

"I believe I've seen it before. It should be over here."

The two men located the book and returned to Harry who had already finished with another book while he was waiting for them. He snatched the book out of his father's hands and promptly ignored both of them. "Might as well make ourselves comfortable" Bill said as he walked over to a thickly padded leather armchair. Severus followed, still completely confused. Bill lit the fire in from of the chairs and leaned back in his chair, getting comfortable. He knew they were in for a long night.

"Shouldn't we find out what he's doing?"

"Good luck with that. When he gets into serious research mode he stops hearing us regular people. The only one who can converse with him when he's like this is Hermione and that's mainly because those two are on some sort of freaky bookish wavelength that the rest of us can never hope to experience. It's best just to wait 'til he's ready for us. He'll explain everything then."

Severus shook his head, trying to make sense of everything. "Would you like a drink then, while we wait?"

"Sure. No Weasley ever turns down a drink." Severus quietly called a house elf and asked her to deliver a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. He quickly poured two large glasses for them as they sat back and watched Harry work.

Harry sat on the rug in front of the fire surrounded on all sides by books. His dark head was bent down and his lips formed the words as he read, trying to make out the faded writing in the book that he had asked Severus to find for him.

Bill smiled fondly at Harry. Clearly, this was a sight that he had grown used to in the years that he had known Harry. Severus was still confused but he decided to just sit still and drink his bourbon while he waited for something to make sense. The entire night had become one enormous mess of a contradiction and he knew that if he thought about it too much then his head would explode.

"So Severus, how have you been doing?" Severus threw Bill a look that told him exactly how ridiculous he thought that inane question was. "I mean, I know I have been here for a few days so I clearly know you are alive and healthy, I just wanted to know how you were feeling about…well…everything."

Severus threw back the rest of his drink and leaned forward to pour more in his glass. "It seems to be going well. I am…pleased…to have Harry as my son." It was clear he was not going to expand on this. Bill sighed, knowing that Severus was not one to talk about feelings ever.

"Harry seems to be more comfortable with you."

"I suppose." It was also clear that Severus was still upset that he still couldn't touch his son. It might sound like a relatively small issue but it hurt to know that his son didn't trust him enough to even put him on his warning list, much less his safe list. He, of all people, should be on the safe list! He was the boy's father and no one else cared for his well being as much as he did.

Severus recognized the deception almost immediately. He might now have Harry's well being at the forefront of his mind but it had not always been so. It made perfect sense that Harry did not trust him yet. He had promised himself that he wouldn't pressure Harry at all yet here he was griping to himself about the situation. He knew that just like calling him Father, he would appreciate it much more if it was done when Harry truly felt comfortable doing it and not before. It would be much more meaningful if it were done when Harry wanted to and not because he felt pressured to. "It's hard, sometimes."

Severus didn't offer any explanation but Bill understood what he was speaking of. "I know. He's warming up to you incredibly quickly though. He's already more comfortable with you than he has ever been with my dad and he's known dad for almost six years now."

Severus raised an eyebrow at this. Indeed. Well that made him feel marginally better.

Bill hid his amusement behind his glass. Severus could be so easy to read. Only he would turn befriending his son into a competition of sorts. The Potions Master constantly doubted his abilities to be a good father and to have Harry love him but he was doing a brilliant job. He seemed to know just when to push and just when to back away. He had earned Harry's trust within an amazingly short period of time. Bill wondered absently what exactly had happened in the Headmaster's office that made Harry trust him so much but he didn't ask. He figured that one of them would tell him when it was time.

Severus was incredibly attuned to his son's special needs and he was able to fulfill them without ever looking as if her were doing so, allowing Harry to believe that everything simply worked out the way it did due to coincidence. As much as Harry disliked being pestered about his past he hated special consideration even more. The only thing more distasteful to him was pity. Luckily, Severus seemed aware of this and he was able to hide any hint of pity from his son while he skillfully maneuvered conversations through the past and present, allowing his son to open up at times as well as hide when needed.

Severus poured himself yet another glass of bourbon and offered more to Bill who gratefully accepted. "Can you pick something up for me when you next go in to work?"

"Certainly. I'll need a letter to the goblins giving me permission to enter your vault though."

"Of course. I need you to go to vault 276 and find my focus stone. I'm not entirely certain where it is but it should be in that vault."

"You're going to test Harry?"

"I had thought to, yes. He has some incredible gifts and abilities. I believe it would be prudent to test him both before and after his birthday. We need to know the true extent of his power in order to plan what we are going to do about the Dark Lord…and Dumbledore."

Bill nodded. "Has Harry told you what he wants to do yet about either of them?"

"No. You?"

Bill shook his head. "Not a word. I'm sure he's been turning the problem over in his mind for quite a while. He'll tell us what he's thinking when he's ready."

"He does like to do things on his own, doesn't he?"

"He doesn't confide very easily in anyone. He tends to think his problems through alone and then come up with a viable solution. Once he has at least one carefully thought out plan he'll go to those he trusts to bounce ideas off of."

Severus nodded as he slowly sipped his drink. Harry was still bent over the stack of books which seemed to have grown even larger while they had been distracted.

"So when are we going to pay the muggles a visit?" Bill said, clearly a bit tipsy. They had each had quite a few drinks by this point.

"Soon Weasley, soon."

"Do you know that I have learned twelve different spells to castrate a man?" Bill said lightly as if he were talking about kittens or freshly baked bread and not separating a man's bollocks from his body.

Snape smirked evilly. "Frankly, I believe I might get more pleasure out of doing it the muggle way...more blood that way."

"Hmm…yes, a spell might be over too quickly. My brothers and I have often tried to plan ways to get Death Eaters over to the Dursley house during the school year to treat them to a bit of good old fashioned torture. Never figured out a good way to get them there without tipping them off on the fact that we wanted the muggles tortured. If they knew who they were dealing with they would probably let them join right up—the uncle especially is perfect DE material, apart from his lack of magical ability."

Severus snorted. "It just might be time to plan a little revel at the Dursley residence. I haven't enjoyed a good muggle torturing in many years."

The two men smirked at each other and toasted their plan. They slipped into a comfortable silence as they each planned the curses that they would love to inflict on the muggles as they drank their way through the bottle of bourbon.

Harry's voice sounded suddenly. "Severus, what happens when you add moonstone to a potion with a gryphon blood base?"

Severus thought for a moment. "Mixing a component that promotes daydreams and illusions with something that forces the truth? I believe it would force the illusion or belief rather than the truth. I'm not certain though."

"Hmm…my thoughts too. I wonder if…" Harry's words faded away as he bent over yet another book.

"That's it? That's all we're going to get? What the hell is going on?" Severus said impatiently to Bill.

"He's still working. We'll know soon enough. I might go ahead and get a bit of sleep though. He could be at this for hours yet" Bill said as he stretched his long form out in the armchair, legs sprawling out in front of him. Severus looked irritated by this new turn of events but he didn't say anything and soon he too shut his eyes for a bit of sleep.

-

-

A look in the crystal ball: Ron and Hermione go to Snape manor!

Please review!


	18. Enter Ron and Mione

A/N: Current Votes 

Option 1 (goes back to and forgives Dumbles): 2

Option 2 (works on own to overthrow Dumbles and Voldie): 45

Option 3 (sides with Voldemort): 13

Takes over Wizarding World (new Dark Lord): 3

Mix between 1 and 2: 1

Mix between 2 and 3: 2

It is looking like the second choice might win. I'll still keep the options open until Saturday morning though, just to be sure that everyone who reads this got a chance to look it over and vote. Everyone's opinions have been great and there have been some well thought out answers that raised some interesting points that I hadn't considered before (on all sides). Thank you for reviewing. Enjoy!

-

Chapter 18 

Severus' eyes shot open as his foot slipped down from the footstool in front of him. _What the hell? Why am I sleeping in the library?_ _Why does my head feel like it is going to explode? _He caught sight of Harry sitting amidst his pile of books and the events of the night before started coming back to him. Harry looked up suddenly, feeling his someone's eyes on him. He calmed when he realized that it was only Severus and gave him a crooked smile.

"I see you're awake."

"Are you done with your mad research binge?" Snape said dryly.

"I believe so. I might need to double-check a few things. It would be good if I could have Hermione here to help me check the figures before we proceed too far though. And Ron to help with the strategy."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Damn. That came out a bit more harshly than he had wanted it to. His head was pounding. That was the last time he would ever drink that much, regardless of how much fun it was to plan how he would torture the muggles. Bill shot awake at the sound and Harry scooted a bit further away from his lover and father. Snape cursed himself mentally.

"I…I wanted to find a way to lock certain information inside their heads…the students. I'm sorry."

Bleeding hell. "What are you sorry for?" Snape asked. Honestly, his son would apologize for breathing if he could. Another lovely reminder of the muggles, he was certain.

"I didn't mean to bother you. It might not work anyhow."

"Harry, if you are working on it I am sure it will work. You've already done the impossible once, I'm sure this will be simple" Bill stepped in. Severus shot him a grateful look. He was clearly better at being solicitous in the morning, even if he was hung over. "So, what have you found? No, wait 'til we get the others here so you only have to go through it once. I assume you are bringing them here to double check everything?"

Harry looked at his father warily and slowly nodded. "If I can" he said quietly, clearly uncertain of his position in the situation.

"Of course. When do you need Weasley and Granger by?" Severus said, trying to recover some ground. He'd let all of the damn Tower come stay in his manor if it could wipe his son's fear from his eyes.

"As soon as they can. They'll come the minute they get the letters when they see that it's important."

Severus nodded and walked over to the desk to select two pieces of parchment. He quickly turned them into portkeys and set both to activate on the words 'Snape library.' He handed them to his son and explained how the portkeys would activate and waited for Harry to write his notes on the parchment. Harry quickly jotted two messy notes to his friends and handed them back to Severus.

Severus glanced down at the notes and nearly snorted. Who the hell would answer a note that simply said _Need you. Research. Potion and strategy. Four Horsemen. Say Snape library._ Evidently his son expected this to be sufficient though so he said nothing but quickly called a house elf to post the notes.

Bill walked over to his lover and offered him a hand to regain his feet. Harry hissed in pain as he straightened his back for the first time in hours, clutching Bill's arms for balance. "Shall we dress while we wait? They should be here within the hour."

Harry nodded, took one last hesitant look at his father and then walked slowly to his room to shower. Bill took one look at the Potions Master's face and knew he was devastated by the most recent turn of events. "Don't worry. It takes a while. No matter how much you move forward you'll always slip back a bit with him. He'll be fine once he showers and dresses."

Severus nodded at him, once again irritated that he needed a Weasley to comfort him and teach him about his son. He supposed Bill wasn't so bad. It was certainly better than Harry dating Ron or, Merlin forbid! one or both of the twins.

He too left the library to get a quick shower and shave before even more Gryffindors arrived at his manor.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Harry emerged from the steamy bathroom wrapped tightly in a towel and drying his long hair off with another towel. Bill smiled at the sight of him, clearly wanting to make love to him but knowing they didn't have the time. Hermione and Ron could be there in as little as 45 minutes and he knew that Harry would require another shower when they were done if they decided to have sex.

Instead he simply gathered up his shaving items and slipped into the bathroom leaving a wide berth around Harry as he went. He always needed to be careful how he approached Harry when he was in a state of undress unless he had been the one to undress him. If Harry was undressed when approached he often immediately slipped into memories of other times when other men had approached him before or after showers with less than kind intentions.

Bill found a place in the cabinet to store his shaving kit and smiled. Harry still didn't need to shave and he probably never would, something that bothered his small lover to no end. He personally liked Harry clean-shaven and couldn't begin to imagine how he would look with facial hair but he was unable to convince Harry that he looked best exactly how he was. It wasn't so much that Harry wanted a beard or mustache, it was more the fact that he couldn't possibly grow one even if he wanted to that bothered him.

He quickly showered and shaved and walked back into the bedroom. Harry was already dressed and stood next to one of the windows, looking out at the large garden. Bill quickly dressed as well and slowly approached his pensive lover. "Are you alright, love?" he murmured as he put his arms around Harry's waist.

Harry tensed slightly but relaxed almost immediately. "Yeah. No. I don't know. How do you think they will react to seeing how I look now?"

"Hm? I'm sure they'll love it. You are gorgeous you know Harry." Harry snorted loudly at this statement but Bill pressed on. "It is a good look for you. You have more of your mother in you and you seem to have gotten all of your father's better features. And its not like they don't already know that he's your father and expect your looks to have changed. They'll be expecting it."

"I suppose so." Harry didn't add anything else to his statement, staring out the window bleakly.

"Shall we return to the library? Maybe the house elves can bring us some breakfast in there."

"That sounds nice."

The two quickly set out for the library, knowing that Hermione and Ron would be there within ten minutes. Severus was already there, talking with a house elf about breakfast options. "Good, you two are here. I thought that we would just have a few plates sent up rather than a full breakfast. Do you know what you want?"

"Fruit and a bit of porridge."

"Full English breakfast. And coffee for both of us."

The house elf nodded and bowed deeply before vanishing, presumably to the kitchens to prepare their plates. Severus looked hesitantly at his son, uncertain of how to apologize for snapping at him earlier. Bill shook his head minutely though, letting him know not to bring it up again. Instead, Severus simply motioned the two over to the seats that surrounded the fire. Bill and Harry sat on the loveseat and Severus took the armchair he had occupied from the night before. "When do you think your friends will arrive Harry?"

"Any moment now. They'll come the minute they get their letters. Let's hope they were already up and dressed and don't come in whatever they slept in."

"I see. Shall we prepare them any breakfast?"

"Might be a good idea. Ron can always eat and Hermione tends to wait til she's been up a while before eating so even if she was already awake she probably hasn't eaten anything. Ron will have a full breakfast and Mione will have some toast and jam and a bit of fruit."

Severus quickly relayed this to the house elf who delivered their breakfasts and the three men began to eat.

Snape broke the silence. "What did 'Four Horsemen' mean?"

"It is our current code. Hermione picked it when Bill delivered the last letters." Harry assumed this would be enough of an explanation. Hermione's codes were always a bit obscure.

"What on earth does it mean though? I thought you usually picked code phrases that were tied to current events."

"It is. It's from a muggle religious book. It mentions the four horsemen of the apocalypse who usher in war, famine, fire, and pestilence."

"What does the apocalypse have to do with anything that has happened recently?"

"It's from the Book of Revelation." Snape rolled his eyes at this news. Only Granger would find such random knowledge and connections interesting or pertinent. And only she would have found the ridiculous allusion amusing.

Suddenly, Hermione appeared in front of them clutching her backpack, closely followed by a partially dressed Ron. Hermione looked over at Ron and rolled her eyes at his state of dress. "Honestly Ronald, couldn't you at least put a shirt on first?"

"Well it seemed urgent and I wanted to see my best mate. Speaking of, where is he?" The two turned around and spotted Severus, Bill, and a young man they presumed to be Harry sitting near the fire. "Blimey Harry, is that you?"

Harry gave them a small smile. Bill took his plate from his hands and set it on the side table, allowing Harry to get up and greet his friends. Harry slowly walked towards them. Ron's jaw had dropped, clearly shocked by his friend's new appearance.

Hermione gave him a quick hug and then stepped back, both allowing Harry to adjust to her touch and herself to get a better look at him. "Oh Harry, you look wonderful. You've grown too!"

"Yeah" Harry said with a shy smile. "Two whole inches!"

"Wow…you look like…like Snape!" Harry just raised an eyebrow at that insipid comment, unknowingly making himself look even more like his father.

"What the piss did you expect Ron? Snape's his dad, of course he looks like him" Hermione snapped. Severus jumped slightly at that statement. No one had ever called him a _dad_ before. His thoughts drifted off for a moment as he pondered the possibility that Harry would ever progress to calling him dad. He sighed and set the dream aside. He would worry about his son being able to use 'Father' first.

"Well, your note was a bit short Harry. What are we working on today?"

"Please come have a seat, Weasley, Granger. A house elf will be bringing you breakfast momentarily and we can listen to Harry's explanation then." Ron looked a bit startled at hearing the Potions Master call Harry by his first name but Hermione didn't blink an eye. She quickly stepped over to Bill and gave him a quick hug and kiss and then seated herself in the armchair next to Severus. Ron walked over to his brother as well and gave him a quick thump on the back and grabbed the armchair on the other side of the loveseat, close to Bill and as far away as possible from his moody teacher. Bill tossed him the shirt he had summoned from his wardrobe in Harry's room and Ron quickly pulled it over his head.

Harry smiled at Ron's greeting to his brother and quickly started gathering his messy notes together to hand to Hermione. He pulled out a few sheets and handed them to Ron and then grabbed a separate pile to give to his father. Each person accepted their papers and started sifting through them. "An explanation please, Harry?" Snape asked after looking at the confusing mess of papers in front of him.

"Wait a tic, I need to find a pen." Hermione immediately started sifting through her backpack which she had placed at her feet. She pulled out a clean pad of paper and a pen and looked at Harry expectantly, waiting for the explanation.

"Well, I suppose Severus needs to go first to explain what we have planned for next year so far otherwise what I say won't make any sense." Ron again looked startled at the use of first names while Hermione immediately turned her gaze toward her professor, completely unfazed. Everyone else turned to Severus as well and Harry regained his seat next to Bill on one side and his father's armchair on the other.

Severus sighed. He wanted answers now but he supposed it _did _make sense to deal with this first. "Due to the changes in Harry's appearance we deemed it unwise to allow him to return to Hogwarts as Harry Potter." He paused slightly, assuming that the Gryffindors would have something to say about this but both simply looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded, clearly understanding where he was going with this. Severus was shocked momentarily—when the hell did Gryffindors learn to think first before rushing to judgement? He shook his head for a second and then continued. "Harry will instead be returning to Hogwarts as my son and he will be apprenticed to Poppy Pomfrey and myself to master the healing arts."

Hermione looked pleased with this and Ron looked only marginally surprised. Clearly, both of them were well aware of how far ahead their friend was of their class. "We have decided to create false credentials from a small school a distant relative of mine runs. In order to prevent the deception from being easily exposed though, we will be creating the appropriate memorabilia to back up the story and we will obtain an agreement from the majority of the students to affirm that Harry did, in fact, attend school with them. Those who do not agree to this will have a few small memories implanted in their minds so that they cannot expose him."

"Sounds good so far. How will you prevent students from letting slip a few stray words though? A whispered conversation in a seemingly deserted hall could potentially blow the entire cover" Ron asked, quickly seeing the same problem Harry had.

"That's where we come in" Harry explained. "Last night I realized that we needed a spell or potion to prevent the students from speaking of certain things. They clearly need to be able to speak about the Snape heir but they cannot mention anything about the fact that the entire thing is a deception, that they agreed to cover for me, or that Snape's son appeared out of nowhere around the same time as Harry Potter disappeared. Unfortunately, all mind control potions or spells that currently exist are either hopelessly dark or else entirely too strong or inappropriate."

"Yes, I see. Imperius and others in that branch would not do at all. They are too dark and too difficult to wield over more than one witch or wizard at a time, not to mention most of them are illegal for good reason. The light ones all either prevent mentioning a specific word at all, which would never work for us, or else force your will on the victim, which I doubt we really want to do and the students would strongly object to."

"My thoughts exactly Hermione. We are only asking family members of the Snapes and Weasleys to do this and we are trusting that most of them will agree out of family loyalty. We have no need to force anyone to do anything. What we need is something to protect those who are helping us by helping them stay quiet about certain topics."

"Hmm…yes it would also have to offer them some protection against interrogation and truth potions, wouldn't it?" Ron said as he stood up and grabbed Hermione's pen from her and started jotting thoughts down on the pages of notes Harry had already given him. Hermione rolled her eyes at him and grabbed another pen from her bag.

"That was what I had hoped. What we need to do, essentially, is create a spell or potion that makes certain information privileged, re-enforces the desire to remain quiet about specific facts, prevents any attempts at breaking into the mind with legilimency or truth serums and protects the mind from being broken or destroyed by forced entry when people realize that the students are protected."

"Hmm…" Hermione thoughtfully tapped her pen on her cheek as she paged through the notes.

"Harry, are you talking about inventing a spell or potion that can do all of that? In the next few weeks?" Snape wasn't certain if his son were serious or not. Who simply decided that they needed a new spell and then just invented it themselves?

"Yes, of course." Evidently his son did. "I think I have it figured out, a combination of spell and potion, or more a potion that is activated by a spell. I just needed you and Hermione to check my work and Ron to check that I didn't leave any loopholes that could be used by someone trying to gain information or by a student who wants to break their trust. The potion is actually loosely based on veritaserum, twisted to prevent someone from telling the truth about certain topics instead of forcing them to tell the truth on all topics. The spell component is based on a dark arts spell that can be used to keep someone from being able to speak of a specific topic."

Severus recognized the spell as the one Dumbledore had used on Poppy to keep her silent about Harry's abuse. The spell had prevented her from even bringing the topic of Harry's medical file up with anyone who did not already know the truth. Evidently Harry was going to somehow make the spell light, or more accurately, make a light spell with similar effects as the dark one, as well as prevent anyone from speaking of it to anyone regardless of what they knew until he released them from the spell.

Severus realized that he was the only one not currently looking through the pages that Harry had handed out. Bill was even looking at the pages that Ron had as Ron finished with each one, murmuring suggestions to him to note down. Snape looked over at Ron and Hermione in amazement. They were both buried in their work, looks of intense concentration on their faces.

"Harry, how have you countered—"

"Page four, top left corner. I added the—"

"Oh yes, I see. What about—"

"Flip the page, bottom right."

"Hmm…that makes sense. What cauldron are—"

"Gold plated pewter, size 18."

"Hmmm. Why not use—"

"I thought about that but it would interact with the—"

"Oh yes, of course. I don't know how I missed that."

Severus looked at Bill in amazement. He was right, his son and the Granger girl were on their own wavelength. They evidently had even been able to do away with such mundane things as talking when they were seriously researching. He slowly turned his gaze to his own pages which were mainly on the potion theory. Clearly Granger had gotten the potion practical and the spell information. He flipped through his pages quickly and spotted the potion practical as well but decided to read through the theory first to make sure it was sound.

As he read he was more and more impressed. Although Harry made some large assumptions at times he found that he could not disprove any of them with anything that he knew and he realized that if he thought about them, he agreed with what had initially appeared to be leaps in logic. The papers that he received were messy, yes, and sometimes poorly worded (if words were used at all…sometimes Harry had drawn figures or pictures instead of using words) but overall the theory was brilliant—the work of a master in the field.

Ron finally broke his silence. "Mate, have you thought about what would happen if someone placed the students under the imperius? They would be under the control of two mind-altering spells. Which would be stronger?"

"I'm not sure. I guess it would depend on the power of the caster."

"You'd better be the one doing all the spellwork then." Harry nodded. "No one short of Voldemort or Dumbledore could break it and I'm not certain either of them could."

"That will push our date back a bit so that you can do it after your birthday. Have you thought more about how to mask your signature?" Bill asked. Hermione looked up in interest.

"Of course, I never thought of that. Owls will still be able to recognize you as Harry Potter, won't they?"

"Is it possible that it was changed when my appearance changed?" Harry asked.

"Doubtful. I knew we needed to do something but there are a variety of slightly dark potions that can be used to mask signatures. I thought we could look through my books and find one to suit."

"Let me check to make sure you need to alter it at all first" Hermione said as she stood up. Severus looked at her in interest, wondering what the clever witch would do. She seamlessly shifted into a tawny owl and flew over to Harry's outstretched arm. He stroked her feathers lightly for a moment and she took off and flew back across the room, shifting back in mid-flight.

"Yes, you are still recognizable as Harry Potter" she said as she gathered her papers again to sit down.

Severus looked at the trio with his mouth agape. "Do I even want to know when you three became animagi?" he said dryly.

"Um…probably not" Harry said, smiling a bit.

Severus rolled his eyes. "May I ask what your forms are?"

Harry and Ron exchanged looks and Ron stood up and quickly shifted into his form, an enormous Golden Retriever that stood almost waist high. Severus smirked lightly: the form was a close tie with his personality. Incredibly loyal, kind, a strong defender of those he loved, the retriever was a perfect form for the young Weasley boy. He turned to look at Bill who shook his head.

"I haven't managed to do it yet. They were all about a year ahead of me in training. I'm getting closer though."

Severus turned his eyes to his son who shifted uncomfortably. Harry looked to both Hermione and Ron for confirmation. They had all wanted to keep Harry's form a secret from everyone for a bit of extra protection. They both nodded that he should tell his father. Harry nodded slowly and stood up, preparing to shift to his animagus form.

-

A/N: I know, I know, an evil cliffie. I've already written the next chapter though so his form has already been chosen. I'm interested to see if anyone can guess it. I don't think I have ever read a fic where Harry was this _exact_ animal…close but not exact. Just a hint: it is a normal animal, not magical.


	19. Finding a Loophope

A/N: Votes as of Friday morning:

Option 1 (goes back to and forgives Dumbles): 2

Option 2 (works on own to overthrow Dumbles and Voldie): 50

Option 3 (sides with Voldemort): 14

Takes over Wizarding World (new Dark Lord): 3

Mix between 1 and 2: 1

Mix between 2 and 3: 2

If you have an opinion and haven't expressed it yet today is the last day for you to do so. Or, mor accurately, the last day for you to do so and have me be able to actively use it in planning the fic. Thanks again to everyone who has responded. Your words have helped me immensely. I don't use a beta so I don't run the story by anyone before posting. Your reviews help me to notice when I am going off track or may in the future. Thank you!

Chapter 19 

Bill smiled in encouragement at Harry. He knew that his lover felt vulnerable revealing yet another secret to his father yet Bill also knew that he could trust Severus.

Harry nodded briefly and closed his eyes. He gracefully shifted into the small ocelot, sitting on the floor blinking up at his father. Most ocelots were around twice the size of a cat but Harry didn't make it to quite that large. He was probably only a few inches longer than the average housecat. His golden fur was covered in the dark spots and rings and dark fur tufted at the top of his ears. He was absolutely adorable—not that Snape would ever admit it.

An ocelot was a good choice for his animagus form. With the number of tattoos he had he would have run the danger of any or all of them being his identifying mark. With his heavily spotted fur it was impossible to recognize any spots that didn't fit in perfectly. Ocelots were known as quick and agile hunters, qualities that Harry definitely had in abundance. He was small and powerful in his animagus form just as he was as a man.

Severus bent down to pet the small ocelot. "What a wonderful form for you, Harry" he murmured. He was marginally surprised that he could touch Harry in his animagus form but he decided that the magic from the runes must be disrupted by his new form. He lightly stroked the small ocelot's back as he examined him closely.

Bill smiled and bent down as well, softly rubbing Harry's large ears. "It looks like I will be a feline as well, and it seems to be something big. We're not quite sure what though. Perhaps a lion."

Severus nodded at this information but didn't take his eyes off of his son. "Merlin Harry, I can't believe you're an animagus. Does anyone beside you four know of it?"

Harry shifted back and ended up sitting between Bill's legs. Severus took a quick step back so he wouldn't make his son feel too crowded.

"No. Poppy knows I am an animagus but she hasn't seen my form. She hasn't seen any of our forms yet."

"It was a good idea to train as animagi though. With the number of people who are trying to kill you it is always a good idea to have another escape route." The Gryffindors nodded at this. They had, in fact, started training largely because they felt that Harry needed another form and they didn't want to make him train by himself.

"Maybe you all should keep your papers for a few days and look them over more carefully to make sure that everything is ok. We can get together next weekend to fix any problems."

"What are you doing out of work, Bill?" Ron asked, seemingly just noticing that his brother was at the manor on a workday.

"I asked for a small leave of absence. I have to go back tomorrow."

"That's too bad. I feel like I never get to see you."

"I'll be staying nights here for a bit. I'm sure you'll be in and out some during the summer so I'm sure we'll get to see each other more than usual."

Ron nodded. He was closer to Bill than he was to any of his other brothers for some reason. Since Bill had moved out he had missed his oldest brother constantly. Bill visited all the time but it was never the same. He was thrilled when Harry started dating his brother because he knew it would be another incentive to come around more often.

"Your new clothes are lovely Harry" Hermione said, admiring Harry's outfit. Harry was, for once, dressed in clothes that fit him perfectly. He had on a pair of dark army green pants that fit low on his hips and a long sleeved black T-shirt with the sleeves pushed up a bit. The T-shirt occasionally rode up a bit on his torso revealing a large black tattoo on his stomach between his hipbones. It was impossible to tell what it was with the tiny flashes that they kept getting but Hermione and Ron knew that it was a tattoo that was written in Parseltongue. The written language looked somewhat similar to Arabic although it had more twists and swirls. Harry had never revealed to them what it said.

"Thanks Mione. Severus had his tailor come out yesterday to fit me for some new things. He sent on a few things early this morning" Harry said as he ran his fingers over the new clothes. He was still a bit uncomfortable in clothes that fit him, having used his cousin's enormous cast-offs to hide in for as long as he could remember.

"I see you've taken off the glamour. The tats look great. I don't think I've ever seen them all. Will you show me later?"

"Sure. My glamour broke when Dumbledore took my mum's glamour off me. I haven't taken the time to reapply it yet. I kind of like having it off."

Ron and Hermione exchanged slightly murderous looks but didn't dwell on the topic. They knew their friend too well. He would bring up the Dumbledore issue when he was ready. They wondered though, how he was going to deal with the Headmaster when the time came. Although Harry was not one to seek out confrontation they knew that the Headmaster had gone too far, even for Harry's typically even temperament to be able to handle.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSD

The four Gryffindors and Severus were spread throughout the library. Harry once again lay on the floor surrounded by books although he was joined this time by Hermione who sat next to him, carding her fingers through Harry's long hair. Bill, Ron and Severus all sat in the chairs near the fire, discussing potential problems with the plan in general in low tones. They had decided without much discussion that Harry and Hermione would focus on the spell while the others would focus on the actual logistics of the rest of the plan.

"Do you think Harry will be recognized by any of his year mates?" Severus asked Ron, concerned that the other Gryffindors would recognize his son.

"I doubt it. None of them really know Harry."

"They've lived with him for six years now."

"Yes but Harry is rarely there…and when he is there he hardly speaks to anyone. He usually just sits by Mione and me in silence, doing work or else just thinking. The Gryffs know that we try to keep pestering students away from him so they rarely even bother anymore. When he is outside the common room he puts on the Golden Boy façade which the rest of Hogwarts sees. Although the Gryffs think it is odd that he does that they don't talk about it with people outside the house. We may be fools at time and rush into situations blindly but we always stick together."

Severus nodded. Gryffindors _did_ tend to stand by each other regardless of what happened. Just look at the werewolf and his friends. He was pulled back to the issue at hand when Ron continued. "The only people who know him at all are the two of us, Neville and Ginny. Nev and Ginny don't even know that much about him, they are just near him more than most, at least when we aren't in our study room. I guess it is possible that the two of them might figure it out but I'm not sure even they could."

"The Gryffindors have private study rooms?"

"No." Ron started squirming. "I believe that Harry should be the one to tell you about this, sir."

Severus looked at him for a moment, evaluating his options. He could force it out of the boy but he wanted to gain Harry's trust and to gain Harry's trust he needed to start by being polite to his friends. "Do the other Gryffindors know about your private room?"

"No."

"Do they know about Harry's home life?"

"Not really. A few might have made their own guesses but nothing has been confirmed and people rarely gossip about it anymore."

"And they know nothing at all about the tattoos?" Severus asked, honestly surprised at that revelation. Everyone knew Gryffindors were insufferably nosy…how had they stood being near Harry and not knowing anything at all about him?

"No. Not even Neville and Ginny know anything about Harry's tattoos. They stay close to him mainly to keep others away and to help protect him if there is an attack. They know that there is a lot that they don't know but they are content with things the way they are. I'm sure they're curious but they don't pry too much."

Severus nodded, indicating that he understood but remained silent for a while. He finally explained his purpose in starting the conversation. "I have asked Harry to leave the glamour off for the upcoming school year. The tattoos should help to hide him, or at least distance himself from Harry Potter about as far as it is possible to do. You are certain that no one knows of his tattoos?"

"Absolutely."

Bill spoke up finally. "That should be a good plan. We'll have to be careful though that students can see that he has tattoos without being able to touch them or else they will quickly learn that they are more than they seem."

Severus sighed. As stupid as it sounds he had not thought of that yet. Merlin, he was slipping.

"Could we try to work on him, getting him to put everyone on the warning list and doing away with the no touch rule altogether?" Severus looked at Ron like he was insane. "I mean, I know he clearly doesn't want to do that but he will still have protection that is just as good, really. Then he could wear short sleeves and stuff without having to worry about someone casually brushing against him."

"Weasley, Harry can currently hardly bear any casual touch, especially if it is even remotely unexpected. He still often tenses when he is touched even if he _can_ see it coming. I can not imagine that he will be ready for something like that in only two months."

"Two and a half, really" Bill slipped in helpfully.

Snape glared at him. "Do you really think that an extra fourteen days will change that much about him?" He noticed that his voice had raised slightly and he quickly lowered it again, not wanting to attract Harry and Hermione's attention. "I will not force him to do something like this if he is not ready. When the time comes and he is ready for it I will celebrate along with the rest of you but I cannot force this, no matter how much I might want it myself."

"But just think Severus, he has come so far in only a few days with you. Maybe he will be ready…"

"Then we will see when the time comes Bill" he said sharply. "You will not mention a word of this to him until then. We can discuss this again in a month to see where he is at." Ron and Bill nodded their understanding. He was right: they couldn't force him. Harry might seem to be doing better right now but this wasn't a real test. He was in a place that he had moderate trust in and was surrounded by three of his most trusted friends and an adult that he trusted more than any other male adult. Just because he could finally tolerate and occasionally enjoy a bit of casual touch among his friends did not mean he could bear it when he was surrounded by hundreds of students.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSD

"I wonder if they've come up with anything useful over there" Harry said softly to Hermione.

"Hmm…oh, no doubt. You know how Ron is, and Bill too, especially when he gets going with Ron. And the Professor is incredibly intelligent as well, not to mention he's used to looking at the details, being a spy and all."

"I guess so." Harry stretched in a manner akin to a cat and smiled softly. "I'm happy, Hermione." Hermione didn't dare believe her ears. She had waited so long for Harry to be able to say that.

"You're happy?"

"I'm happy."

SDSDSDSDSDSDSD

"When will Harry take the NEWTs?" Bill asked quietly.

"Next weekend."

"Will he be going to this school to sit them? If so we need to arrange some security" Ron said.

"I'm still discussing it with Rianna. She wouldn't mind coming here to administer the exams but some of the practicals must be overseen by professors in order to be legitimate. I am clearly disqualified due to our relationship and so he would need to be near at least a few other professors. She is in the process of sorting through her contacts to see if she can find enough professors who owe her favors."

"Severus…I know it really isn't my place but I am curious as to why you are both staying at Hogwarts. I know Harry would miss Hermione and Ron if he left school but wouldn't it be safer for you two here?" Bill asked, uncertain of if he was pushing the surly Potions Master too far too quickly. Severus had already gotten angry with him once today over the tattoo issue: he didn't want to experience Snape's anger twice in one conversation.

Severus sat back and sighed. "I had assumed that Harry had told both of you exactly what happened when we went to Dumbledore's office." Both Weasleys shook their heads. Harry had been rather vague, only making it clear that the Headmaster had offered incontrovertible proof that Severus Snape was his biological father. Bill had since learned that the proof involved a shared memory but Harry had not detailed the actual memory he had seen.

"I suppose it is time to tell you both what we know, seeing as you are two of the people closest to Harry and the two most likely to assist with any planning that will happen." Bill and Ron nodded their heads, ready to assess every word that Snape said to try to find any loopholes or problems.

"We went to our appointment, aware that the Headmaster was planning on revealing something to us. What we were not aware of though, was the nature of the information that Dumbledore was going to tell us. We both assumed it had something to do with the war effort. When we arrived, the Headmaster brought out his pensieve which contained a single memory.

"The memory was that of the Headmaster's meeting with a young Lily Evans. Lily revealed that she was pregnant with my child and that she feared for the babe's life due to my…connections." Bill and Ron nodded. They wouldn't force him to go into detail about his past. They knew what had happened well enough as it was. "She had recently been experiencing prophetic dreams and she knew that she would be dead within two years of the boy's birth. She and the Headmaster planned for her to go to Potter and ask him to marry her in order to offer some sort of protection to her child once she was gone. She had hoped that a pureblood name would offer a greater level of safety for Harry given the current issues at war. She clearly did not foresee Potter's death or she would have chosen to marry the Ravenclaw instead."

Bill and Ron looked completely dazed. They had no idea that Lily's marriage to James Potter had been a complete sham—even to the point that she nearly chose another random boy to marry! They had assumed that Harry was the result of an alcohol induced one off or a rape forced by Severus' service to Voldemort. It had never occurred to them that Harry was a love child who had been given another man's name for protection.

Ron finally shook himself out of his daze. "He knew. He knew the entire time, didn't he?" Severus nodded. "He's known since Harry's mum was pregnant," he continued, "and he did nothing to help her, to help you?" Severus nodded again.

"Merlin, it's worse than I thought" Bill muttered as he ran his fingers through his long hair, snagging on the leather tie he had pulling it back. He impatiently ripped it out and flung it on the table. "I suppose I can understand him keeping it from you as long as you were a loyal Death Eater but once you came to our side he should have revealed all. You came to our side around the time of Harry's birth, didn't you?"

"About a month before, actually."

Bill said grudgingly "I guess I can even understand him keeping it from you as long as Lily and James seemed to be happily married. It was completely illegal, keeping your son from you and arbitrarily deciding to give him to another man, especially when pureblood titles and estates are involved, but I can see someone rationalizing the lie if they thought it would protect the baby. But once they were both dead, to have sent him to the muggles…" Bill faded off, not even capable of finding words to express himself anymore.

"What happened when you found out? What did you two say to him?"

Severus looked across the room at Harry for a long moment, collecting his thoughts. The memory of that morning made his throat close up and tears threatened and he would not be brought to such a state with _Weasleys_ present. He finally looked up. "Harry was distraught. He was…gods, I've never seen such complete and utter devastation on anyone before. He…." Severus paused again, to regain his composure. The Weasley boys exchanged looks. They knew that the formerly snarky Potions Master was barely keeping it together.

Severus cleared his throat. "I immediately announced my intent to resign my position and remove my son from the vicinity. The Headmaster" he sneered, "reminded me of a certain clause in my contract that prevented me from quitting as long as my progeny attended Hogwarts. So we left as quickly as possible to come here and collect ourselves. I knew that we needed time to figure out a plan."

The three men sat in silence for a moment. The only sounds in the library were of the fire crackling, pages being turned softly by Harry and Hermione and their quiet conferences about what they were reading. Ron suddenly smiled. "Wait a minute…what exactly does the clause say?"

"Hmm? Oh, some rot about remaining in my position until any progeny I may or may not beget have graduated."

"No, the exact words, not the general meaning. Do you have a copy of your contract here?"

"I should have." Severus seemed to be catching up a bit. He wasn't entirely certain where this was going but he had a pretty good idea. How the hell had he not thought to check the damn contract before now? Having a son certainly was distracting!

Severus left the library to go to his personal study. Ron and Bill followed him, knowing that the conversation might be better to be had in private. Once they had figured out a few options then they could approach Harry with them but they needed to narrow the plans down to a few that could work and that wouldn't upset or hurt Harry.

-

A/N: Next chapter I'll answer the question of why Harry and Sev can't just leave Hogwarts since Harry will have effectively graduated once he passes his NEWTs. Thanks to the reader who pointed that out to me. I can't believe I missed that!

Looking forward…Revenge on the Dursleys coming in a few chapters (I believe 2, but it is subject to change). Will Bill get to put any of his curses to use? insert evil villain laugh Please review!


	20. Hermione's Plan

A/N: It appears that I will be going with the second option. Harry will remain on the side of the light but he will not forgive Dumbledore in any fashion. He will work in some way to get rid of him completely, either through forced retirement, incarceration, or death. 

I feel that Harry—my Harry, at least, would never go dark. He would never side with Voldemort. He is entirely too selfless (or perhaps saying that he has too little self worth would be more accurate) to ever switch allegiances because of a wrong done _to him_. Had Dumbledore brought the world at large with the amount of pain that he had Harry then perhaps he would go to Voldemort's side. But to switch sides because of a personal pain…I just don't think my Harry has it in him. Rather unfortunate, in some ways, since I personally would have run over to Tom's side in a heartbeat were our positions switched. I do love a good dark!Harry fic. Alas, this is not going to be one of those fics. This Harry definitely feels too much pain still from those he has lost to Voldemort and the Death Eaters and he is too selfless to ever leave the Wizarding world without a way to be rid of such a creature, regardless of how much the leader of the light has hurt him and his father.

I had felt for a while that this was the right option but I wanted some second opinions—and I am so grateful that I got them! You guys all pointed out some wonderful points that I had missed entirely, many of which I will be addressing in some way or another in the future. Even when people wrote reviews saying what I had already been thinking it was very helpful to read it when it was put into different words. Thank you all again.

-

Chapter 20 

"Where the hell did they go?" Harry grumbled as he and Hermione wandered the halls of the manor, looking for their missing companions.

"Got me. I didn't even hear them leave."

Harry sighed and decided to call a house elf for assistance, regardless of Hermione's glare. "Bezzie, have you seen Severus?"

"No Little Master. I can check for you though."

"Thanks, that'd be great."

Bezzie slipped away and returned almost instantly. "Master Severus is in his private study with the Weasley boys. Do you remember how to get there?"

"Yes, thank you. See you later!" Bezzie smiled and vanished. All of the house elves were pleased when their Master had brought his son home. Little Master needed a father to protect him and Master Severus seemed to be much happier now that he had his son. He certainly yelled less.

Harry and Hermione continued on to the study, Hermione only grumbling about House Elf Liberation for a few moments before she let it go. She was beginning to understand that it truly _was_ in their nature to enjoy serving another. As long as they were treated well and given respect for their hard work she supposed she could let the issue rest. Perhaps she should switch her focus to protecting the house elves' rights instead of trying to free them.

Harry knocked lightly on the door and waited for a response. His father's deep voice called out permission but he was still hesitant. If there was one thing he learned at the Dursleys it was to never enter an enclosed room if he wasn't entirely certain who or what was in it to begin with. He took a breath, squared his shoulders and pushed through the door.

Severus and the Weasleys were slightly alarmed at the barely contained panic on Harry's face when he finally opened the door but no one commented on it. Harry took a deep breath and started to calm down. He took another slow breath and then walked over to Bill and sat on the floor by his feet, resting his head on Bill's leg. Bill's hand immediately went to card through his lover's hair. Everyone had always had a fascination with Harry's hair…when it was a short, wild mop they constantly tried to smooth it down, when it was longer but still messy they wanted to straighten it out, and now that it was long and silky people couldn't stop touching it. It helped to calm Harry down in almost any situation since it was a form of touch that could in no way be tied back to his muggle family.

Hermione kicked Ron's feet off the footstool and pulled it away a bit to sit on it. "So what have you all been doing in here?" Hermione asked as she situated herself.

"Not much" Ron said with a smile and then turned to Harry. "You don't have to go back to Hogwarts though mate if you don't want to. Neither does the Professor."

"Wha…I'm sorry. I missed the part where that made sense. What did you say?"

"We looked at the contract. Dumbledore worded it poorly. The clause reads: _The above signed cannot terminate employment as long as any children, either born or conceived before the signed date, attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_. That's it."

"Please take this in small steps. Pretend I'm Goyle or something." Severus glared lightly at his son. Even he had to admit though that Goyle wasn't the smartest wizard in the school.

"You're over age…or will be soon enough. You can either quit school legally then or else you can take the NEWTs and officially graduate. Either way, you don't count anymore as a child in the eyes of this contract. Snape can quit whenever the hell he wishes."

Harry nodded slowly, clearly trying to process these new developments. "What about Dumbledore though?"

"Apprentices cannot be taken away from their mentors" Hermione helpfully filled in.

"Yes, yes, I remember Poppy telling me so. But what will we do if he tries to take me away before I am of age? Or if he misses that opportunity and tries to blackmail us instead?"

"Blackmail?" Ron tried to think of what Dumbledore had on Harry to use as blackmail.

"Merlin" Severus said hoarsely. "He could tell the world that you're my son. He could reveal your previous identity." Harry nodded. "What could we possibly do to stop him?"

"First off you need to get official custody of Harry. If Dumbledore tried to get custody of him it would take a very long and very public court battle to decide who officially would get him. And if there was a court battle, certain things would be brought to light. And while the trial is pending Harry might be made to stay with the muggles." Bill seemed to go straight to the first problem that they needed to solve.

Any trace of color fled from Harry's panicked face. "Please don't let that happen. Please" he whispered, turning his despairing gaze towards his father. "I can't go back there again…I just…can't."

Severus slid off his chair and knelt on the ground by his son. "Oh Harry, I would never allow it. You will never set foot in that house again. I will never allow the muggle to be in the same room as you again, much less close enough to touch you." Harry breathed a shaky sigh of relief and leaned back slightly into a surprised Snape's arms.

Severus tightened his arms around his shaking son and looked up into Bill's eyes, both men betraying complete shock. Hermione smiled happily and Ron looked a bit confused but then he too nodded and smiled a bit. He might be shocked that his friend was able to find comfort in Snape of all people but he was happy nonetheless that Harry was able to accept a hug from his father.

Harry leaned in, soaking up the comfort for a few minutes. He finally turned so that his back was leaning into Severus' side and he could again see his friends. "How will we stop him?"

"I am going tomorrow to officially obtain custody of you" Severus said lightly. He knew he would be facing a slight battle with the muggles but frankly he was more concerned with keeping his own murderous urges in check than he was over anything the muggles could possibly say or do.

"He'll never sign. He'll never give me up" Harry said with grim certainty.

"Leave that to me to worry about" Severus said, noticing the glint in both Weasley boys' eyes. Clearly they had some plans for the muggles as well. He might let them accompany him on his little…trip.

"What about the other problem…the Dumbledore problem?" Ron asked, trying to get Harry's mind off the muggles. Although Dumbledore was hardly a happy topic it was certainly better than having Harry worry himself sick over his worthless relatives. Somehow betrayal by a family member always hurt more than betrayal by an acquaintance. Families were the people who should always stand by you, no matter what. In Ron's view, family should always be able to be counted on to be on your side, to protect and defend you, and, of course, to always, always love you.

"If we leave Hogwarts he'll come after us. He'll fight us with everything he has, whether it be to physically attack us or to go after us through the papers. I don't believe we'll be able to safely leave school."

Severus nodded. His son was right. If they left without Dumbledore's blessing then he would simply out them to the press, defeating the entire purpose of hiding Harry in plain sight. He could deal with him for another year. He might kill the old man by the end of it, but he would do anything he needed to do in order to protect his son.

"It might be better this way, Harry" Hermione suddenly spoke up. Harry and the rest of the men turned startled looks toward her. "Think of it this way. Dumbledore is clearly a dangerous man. Currently you have two wonderful tickets into his inner sanctum. He trusts both of you…at least he trusts that you will still be on his side and that you totally still trust in him, regardless of his deception. If you both remain at Hogwarts you can keep an eye on him—more, you can actively spy on nearly every detail of his life and his war plans while still pursuing your education and making your own war plans. I don't know what you intend to do about the Headmaster but if you remain at Hogwarts then all options will remain open for you. If you leave you will be very limited. Look at how hard it is for Voldemort to get close enough to Dumbledore to…do anything" she quickly edited. While she wanted to kill Dumbledore she wasn't entirely certain that was Harry's plan.

Silence filled the room. Damn. The men had all thought that they had beat the system and figured out a brilliant solution. Within minutes though the little witch had showed them exactly how much better the exact opposite of their "solution" would be. Not only was her plan better but it also showed exactly how weak their own plan had been. They had gotten too caught up in the heady feeling of success at being able to thwart the Headmaster. It had never occurred to them that the best way to thwart him might be to comply with him.

"You're right" Harry said softly. "We need to go back. Someone needs to keep an eye on Dumbledore and as long as he thinks we still support him he will keep my change a secret." He started to shift uncomfortably in his father's loose embrace. Severus let go of him completely and Harry sat up, rubbing his scar lightly. It seemed to have faded a tiny bit but it was still blatantly obvious. "We still need to deal with this."

Everyone nodded but no one gave a solution yet. "We'll come up with something, mate" Ron said. He always had full faith that he and his friends could solve anything. He was friends, after all, with the smartest witch and strongest wizard of the age. If the three of them couldn't fix a problem then it was simply unfixable.

Severus stood up. "It seems to be near dinner time. Is everyone staying to dinner?" Ron and Hermione exchanged looks and then shrugged their shoulders.

"Thanks professor. That would be great" Hermione answered.

"Harry, please show your guests to the rooms across from ours to allow them to freshen up. Will you be staying the night?"

"I need to get home. My parents don't know I'm here."

"Didn't you tell them you were leaving this morning Miss Granger?"

"No. I came as soon as I got the letter. Harry needed me. My mum thinks I'm in my room reading. I often miss meals when I'm researching and they know not to bother me too much. They'll notice it if I'm not there to sleep though. I guess I could send an owl though. Perhaps I'll do that. It would be nice to stay for a bit longer."

Severus was amazed. His son inspired such loyalty in people, such extreme love and devotion. They loved him with an all-consuming passion and were willing to move heaven and earth if Harry only asked. Hell, they had invented an entirely new branch of magic just for him. Harry didn't even understand the love either. His friends had clearly placed him high above any other, responding to a note that asked for a bit of research assistance without question and without even pausing to tell family. Even a goody Gryffindor was willing to break rules and even laws in order to help her friend. Severus nodded to Hermione and turned to Ron. "And you, Mr. Weasley?"

"Eh…mum saw that I got a note from Harry and then that I left by portkey. I didn't discuss it with her but she wouldn't mind if I stayed. Could I send a note or floo her?"

"Of course. Harry can establish a floo connection for you in his room. Dinner will be served in an hour." Severus turned quickly and left the room. It had been hard to keep up his cold exterior when inside he was dancing with joy. His son had allowed him to hug him—more—his son had sought him out!

The four Gryffindors proceeded to Harry's rooms and Harry showed Hermione one of the rooms directly across from his own and Ron the room across from Snape's. Bill entered their rooms first and Harry slowly followed. He quietly closed the door and rested his head against it.

"Are you alright, love?"

"What if he won't sign the papers?" he whispered brokenly. "What if they take me away?" his voice was thin and weak. He was barely holding it together.

"He _will_ sign the papers. Can you imagine anyone refusing Severus Snape anything he wanted? Merlin, the man can be terrifying enough when he's dealing with unruly students. Turn him loose on a muggle he hates and his terror potential goes from greasy git to full fledged Death Eater. No way would your uncle refuse him. And no way will either of us let you back there. We'll run away if we have to but we'll keep you from him. I promise."

Harry nodded. He didn't look much comforted but he truly felt better. Bill was right—his father could be damn scary when he wanted to be. Plus, his father had magic and would use it if he felt threatened at all, unlike how his situation had been when he couldn't use magic at all to defend himself. Not to mention the fact that his father was huge...well at least compared to him he was. Not anywhere near Vernon's sheer girth but he was very tall and clearly well muscled. His uncle wouldn't stand a chance. "Merlin I'm exhausted. I'm about ready for bed."

Bill laughed lightly. "That's what you get for reading books all night. Can you make it through dinner?"

"I might lay down now for a few minutes. Wake me before dinner?"

"Sure thing, love" Bill said as he gave Harry a light kiss. "Sleep well." Bill went to the bathroom to brush his hair and wash up for dinner. He heard a light knock and went to open the door. Ron stood in the doorway, looking in. He spoke quietly when Bill nodded his head toward Harry's sleeping form on the bed.

"Merlin, this is one hell of a room. Can I floo from here?"

"No. I forgot to remind Harry to set up the floo connection before he went to sleep and only a Snape can do it. We'll just have to wait a bit. I hate to wake him…he's completely knackered."

Ron nodded. "I can always call after dinner as well. Mum won't worry too much. She knows I'm with you two." The brothers conversed lightly for a few minutes more before they were joined by Hermione. They all sat for a while discussing the recent events before they noticed Snape's shadow in the doorway. Severus saw his sleeping son and his mouth turned up slightly. Harry's small form was completely dwarfed by his enormous bed and for a moment Severus was able to imagine that his boy had grown up with him and was happy and healthy. He was quickly returned to the cold reality.

Bill stood to wake his lover. He walked quietly over to the bed and stood about two feet away from it. "Harry" he called lightly. "Harry, it's time to wake up now."

Harry shot awake and scrambled away from the voice for a moment before he remembered where he was and he sank back into the bed. "Just a bit more?" he said with a sleep-scratchy voice.

Severus shook himself from his self-pity. He needed to remember that things may not be perfect but that his current life was much better than he had ever hoped it would be even a few weeks ago. He had a son and he was lucky enough to have discovered it while Harry was still young enough to want to live with him and develop a relationship with his father. "I'm afraid it is dinner time" Severus announced. "You need to eat; you're much too thin."

"I'm up, I'm up" Harry said grouchily. He batted his hair out of his face impatiently. Bill turned him around and quickly gathered it up for him and tied it with a leather thong to keep it out of his face. Harry smiled his thanks and started walking toward the door.

They all sat down at the dinner table and waited for the house elves to bring dinner in from the kitchen. Hermione eagerly started chattering about the next school year. "I can't believe you get to take the NEWTs early—I am so jealous! Aren't you nervous?"

"Not particularly, Hermione. Plus, it's just about the only way I would ever stand a chance of taking them fairly. I'll get to take the tests without them knowing I am The Boy Who Lived." Ron and Hermione nodded. They knew how much it bothered Harry to be singled out and given special consideration.

"It will also help you to separate yourself from Harry Potter in yet another way. Everyone will assume that you are a year older than he was since you have already graduated" Severus reminded his son.

"That's true. I can't wait to start my apprenticeships."

"Do you know what days you'll be with Poppy and what days you'll be with the Professor?" Ron asked as he heaped his plate high with the delicious food the elves had brought in.

Harry looked at his father to confirm. "No, not yet. I know I'll be working with potions for about a day and a half a week and the rest of my time will be in the infirmary. I'm not sure how the hours will be broken up yet."

"Harry will be teaching my first years and will be co-teaching the second years with me. We will take turns teaching their lessons. He will also serve as an assistant on a rotating basis for the rest of my classes, I believe. If we keep it fluid then he can leave to fulfill his duties in the infirmary when need arises. There will only be a select few hours that he must be in the potions lab. The rest can be whenever the infirmary is slow or there are no new patients for him to work with."

"That'll be incredible Harry. Just think, you'll be assisting our class!" Hermione squealed.

Harry turned slightly pale. "Will I be assisting with the seventh years, Severus?"

"I had intended for you to. Is there a problem with that?"

Harry thought for a moment and realized that he had overreacted. "I guess not. I just hadn't thought about it much. A lot of the Slytherins don't like me much though."

"You forget, love, that you'll be the Head of Slytherin's son. Trust me, they'll love you. It'll probably be the Gryffindors you need to worry about."

Harry sighed. "That's probably true."

"What's going to be your new name?" Ron asked casually around a large bite of steak, fully aware of the magnitude of his question but trying to play it off as something unimportant, wanting to keep Harry from getting too nervous.

Severus and Harry looked at each other across the table. Severus had been thinking about this for a few days but the issue had never occurred to Harry. His life had been so insane for the past few days he was lucky he was thinking straight at all.

"Do you have any preference?" Severus asked nervously_. Merlin, please don't let Harry answer that he wants to be named after the mutt or his foster father. Anyone but them_. Severus may have reevaluated their seemingly worthless existences in the last few days but he still had absolutely no desire to see his son named for either of them.

"No. I mean, I could pick a good muggle name but I doubt you would ever name your son anything remotely muggle. I couldn't possibly pick a pureblood name out. Have you thought of anything?"

"I had been thinking of Tallis Anthony Snape. Do you have any objections?"

"Tallis Snape. Sounds ok I guess. At least it's not as bad as some pureblood names. I mean honestly, who names their son Lucius? Or Sirius for that matter."

"Tallis Snape. I like it Harry…I mean Tallis. Guess we should start now so we don't slip up when we get to Hogwarts" Hermione said.

"That would be disastrous" Snape responded. Ron and Hermione nodded solemnly. They would have to be careful. They could not give his identity away. This was the best option to keep him safe. There were still some obvious problems with the plan but it was slowly coming together. Not to mention the obvious benefit of Harry finally having a father. They would do whatever it took to keep the two of them together. They could tell that Snape had been good for Harry already. Harry had smiled more in the last few hours than he had in the last year at Hogwarts. A quick look at Bill confirmed that their suspicions were right and Harry was indeed much happier.

"You're going to need to call the Professor "father" now, won't you?" Hermione said. She knew she was pressing the matter a bit but she was concerned that Harry would never move on to use that name without a bit of prodding. He would worry too much about taking liberties that Snape would not want him to take. Harry second-guessed himself constantly.

"He can when he is ready to" Severus said quickly. Harry nodded and didn't say anything. He sat quietly for the remainder of the meal, pensively going over the past few days in his mind. The rest of the meal was rather quiet as everyone was thinking about what had happened and some of the men were planing what would happen.

"Well, I'm for bed. Anyone else?" Harry stood up, stretching.

"I'm tired too. I just got a new book and I stayed up late last night reading it" Hermione said as she too stood up. Severus quickly shot a look at the Weasley boys letting them know that they were to stay in their seats if they knew what was good for them.

"I might stay up for a bit, Harry. I haven't gotten to see my brother in quite a while." Harry smiled at Ron's plan to stay up late chatting with his brother. He knew they were close and that they missed each other. He walked over to give Bill a quick kiss and then left the room with Hermione, already chatting eagerly about her new book.

Bill and Ron turned expectantly toward Severus. "Well gentlemen, I believe we have a house call to make this evening."

"We're going tonight?" Bill asked quietly.

"Of course. I intend to give Harry his papers in the morning. I will not leave him here worrying himself sick over what may happen at the muggles while we are gone. It's best if we leave while he is sleeping."

"We should call Charlie and the twins." Ron said firmly.

"I will not take all of Gryffindor along on this trip" Severus said sharply.

"No one else, just those three. They deserve to be there. They deserve their revenge too. For Harry." Ron pleaded his case quietly but firmly. He was right and he knew it. Severus glared at him but finally wavered.

"Contact them when you floo your mother. For Merlin's sake boy, don't mention this to either one of your parents. They have entirely too many morals for the activities that will go on this evening." Bill and Ron nodded and smirked. Tonight they would finally get the chance to do what they had talked about doing since they met Harry. Severus smirked one last time and then quickly left the room to prepare. He had some muggles to deal with tonight.

-

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A/N: Tallis is the name I have picked out for my first boy so mocking future baby Vingilot's (I'm not pregnant yet) name will be greatly frowned upon. Umm…well, truthfully, it's not like I'll do anything though if you _do_ review saying it is a terrible name. You are free to hate the name if you want to…my mother thinks it sounds like "towels" (she has a southern accent and somehow that makes Tallis sound like a completely different word…don't ask me) so I've gotten used to hearing her disapproval. I personally love the name.

I do believe I smell a bit of Dursley Confrontation in the next chapter!

Please review.


	21. A Family Reunion

Warning: A bit of violence in this chapter. Not too much and frankly, if you didn't see it coming then you have a problem. If you are disinclined to see any bodily harm befall Vernon Dursley I recommend skipping about half a page (to be completely safe…the true violence is actually only a paragraph or so) from when Severus reenters the sitting room. To everyone else: enjoy! 

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Chapter 21 

Severus and the rather large brood of Weasleys walked quietly up to their destination. Severus had wanted to object to the twins and Charlie's presence but he swallowed his objection. They had, after all, been dreaming about this day for far longer than he had. He could not, in faith, refuse them their right to be present.

They had unanimously decided to omit Percy, Ginny, Molly and Arthur. Percy needed no explanation or debate. Ginny was not only underage but she also didn't know enough about Harry's home life to be present without revealing truths that Harry clearly did not want her knowing. Her mum and dad had shielded her for a large part of the revelations that the rest of the family had had when they met Harry. The adults were equally easy to rule out since they were tied by a little thing called morality which the men in Severus' party all seemed to lack, at least when it came to these muggles. Severus didn't know exactly what they would do tonight but he was damned if he would let some overly moral Gryffindor stop him from inflicting a just punishment.

They approached the door in the dark, smirks on every face. The family could be heard in the sitting room: the boy complaining about needing some new muggle item, the woman placating her "Duddykins" and the man clearly ignoring them both. Severus decided to let himself in—they were, after all, family. He nearly snorted at that thought.

The Weasleys all filed in after him, surrounding him in a semi circle as he stood in the doorway looking into the sitting room. They didn't want to miss a minute of this. "Greetings, muggles" Severus hissed in his most deadly voice. Ron and Charlie nearly shivered at the tone themselves before they recalled that, for once, it was not directed at them.

"What are you doing here? You're a freak, like _him_, aren't you? You're not welcome here." Anger and hatred poured off the man. There was a darkness in him that was almost palpable. Severus tried desperately to block out the stream of memories that the muggle was unconsciously projecting of the many times he had beaten Harry. He had such strong mind magic abilities that it was difficult to turn off the low level of legilimency that he had running nearly constantly. It twisted Severus' stomach in knots, simply being near the man. He reigned in his revulsion though. He had a job to do.

Severus gave a loud sigh. "Muggles can be tedious, can't they?" The Weasley boys all gave identical evil grins. They had no idea what Severus was seeing projected from the man's memories. "Let's say I skip all of the introductions and move straight on to the point of this little tête à tête. I tire of your existence. If you wish to continue living your wretched little lives you will do as I tell you."

The woman nodded eagerly, clearly ready to acquiesce to any demands he may have. The boy looked terrified and about to wet himself. The man looked furious but he did not object anymore.

"Here are custody papers. You will sign over any rights you may have claimed over Harry Potter immediately."

"But…but…you can't take him from us" the man sputtered indignantly. "He's needed here." The anger and hatred were touched with a thread of desire that even the Weasleys could sense, regardless of their lack of abilities with mind magic. The man projected his emotions strongly, more so than most wizards or muggles. There was no doubt as to his intentions.

"Yes, I've heard about how you…need your nephew" Severus said silkily, glancing disdainfully at the man's cock. "Sign the papers."

"Are you his lover, is that it? I've heard that he had a lover that was a lot older than him. I'll not let you do this. The boy is mine for another year." The man's face turned pale as he realized what he had said and quickly tried to recover. "My darling Petunia would miss the poor dear so. You just can't take him away from her. You know she loves him as another son. Such a dear, sweet boy."

Severus took a quick step forward, standing within inches of the fat muggle's face before he had even noticed that the Potions Master had started moving. Severus reached out a hand and grabbed the muggle's balls tightly in his fist and squeezed until his knuckles turned white from the pressure. Sweat poured down the man's face as he tried to remain standing. "You will sign the papers. Now. I am Harry's father and I find myself ill pleased with your _loving_ care of my son. I will brook no more arguments. You will sign the paper or you will be dead." He gave a vicious twist before letting his vice-like grip go. He stepped aside and pointed to the papers again.

"But…but…the old man. He said the boy's father was dead. He told us so!" The muggle was sounding desperate.

"Clearly he lied."

This seemed explanation enough to Severus so he waited patiently for the man to move to the table and sign the papers. When it was evident that the man had no intention of doing anything, Severus snapped. "I must have been unclear in my earlier statements" Severus said as he accepted a long, sharp knife from Bill. He stepped closer once again and quickly thrust the knife down, stopping less than an inch away from the man's cock which was clearly in danger of being removed. "Sign it or I will slit you from balls to throat. Is that clear enough for you?"

"Vernon! Sign the damn papers! It's just for the freak anyway. Give him to the wretched man!"

Vernon shakily stepped forward and bent to sign the papers. When he finished he stood again, looking warily at Severus and the gang of red heads that stood in the doorway. Severus motioned to Petunia who also bent to sign the papers. Upon the completion of her signature the scroll bound itself tightly and then vanished.

"What just happened?" The woman's voice rang out unnaturally high and shaky.

"The contract was finished. It has gone to one of my safes in the manor to be brought forth upon need,"

Severus turned to leave. As much as he wanted to kill them all he knew that he couldn't. If he used magic on the muggles he could end up in Azkaban. He couldn't risk giving Dumbledore such wonderful leverage. They were in a dangerous enough spot as it was. He quickly walked out of the room, the Weasleys following closely. They all had similar looks of disappointment on their faces, although they each understood. Severus had explained the "rules" to them before they had even left. They knew they could not use magic at all if they wanted to keep Harry safe.

Severus stopped suddenly as he walked down the hallway.

"What is it Severus?" Bill asked softly.

Severus reached out a shaky hand and touched the wall lightly. One of his first conversations with his son ran through his head with chilling accuracy. "The cupboard under the stairs. This is what he meant, isn't it? Merlin, a cupboard. A bloody cupboard."

"Yes. That was his old room. I've never seen the inside but the twins said it's even smaller inside than it looks from the outside."

Severus reached out slowly to undo the locks on the door and he pushed the tiny door open with trepidation. The sight that greeted him made his heart twist and his breath catch. The cupboard couldn't house a toddler comfortably, much less a nearly eleven-year-old boy. His house elves had better rooms than this. Hell, _mistreated_ house elves had better rooms.

Cobwebs filled the corners and a thick layer of dust covered everything. A small shelf was stocked with various cleaning supplies and a few broken toys and two crayon stubs. A tiny cot filled the majority of the cupboard. Even as a ten year old, even knowing how tiny Harry had been, Severus could clearly tell that his son couldn't have possibly been able to even lay straight on the cot, much less stand upright in the cupboard.

He started shaking almost violently. His anger and his despair warred with each other. Part of him wanted desperately to sit down and cry like a child. A larger part of him wanted to return to the living room and use every single dark curse he had ever learned on them, one after another, until he had eviscerated any sign of their wretched existence from the earth. He turned toward the room again. Bill reached out to stop him but one look at the Potions Master's face made him decide against it.

The other Weasleys quickly got out of Severus' way as he strode back to the room he had just vacated. The muggles had evidently decided that they were safe from any harm since the wizards had yet to actually hurt any of them. The fat muggle tried to bluster a bit of bravery to show that he wasn't intimidated by Severus' dark countenance but it was an ill thought out plan, and in fact put his precious bits in even greater danger than they had ever been in before. Petunia and Dudley huddled in the corner, clearly terrified.

"Back for some help with the freak? He can be hard to bring to line. Have you enjoyed the boy yet? So lovely, isn't he? I tell you, that boy can bring some life to a man's bed" the fat muggle chuckled stupidly.

Severus had reached his breaking point. He reached out his hand and with a small amount of wandless magic removed the muggle's clothing and then he ripped the man's balls from his body with his bare hand. The naked muggle opened his mouth in a silent scream and collapsed to the floor in shock, convulsing. Severus looked down at his blood-covered hand for a moment, in a shock of his own. Well…that had been…enjoyable. Who knew it could feel so good to castrate a gloating child-rapist?

He turned again and quickly left the room. Bill smirked triumphantly. Ron looked a bit ill but pleased. Charlie had carefully averted his eyes from the scene but he looked content. The twins were quite green but they nodded solemnly at Severus as he passed them again.

The six men quickly left the house and activated the portkey to return them to the manor. Severus actually stumbled when they arrived and then sank to the ground. Bill stepped over to him and knelt down behind him, putting his arms around Snape's shaking shoulders. The other Weasleys stood a bit apart, discussing the trip quietly as they averted their eyes from the scene of their broken professor.

"He's safe now. You can keep him safe. He'll never have to go back there again" Bill whispered quietly.

"Merlin. How did my boy survive such a man?" Severus whispered hoarsely.

"He's safe now" Bill continued to whisper. He didn't know what else to do. He knew that Severus was in shock. He had learned too much, too quickly.

"I have failed him, haven't I? I left him with that monster…" Severus trailed off, completely broken. His shoulders started to shake harder with silent sobs. He was a complete failure as a father. How could he have left his child there? The man had been loathsome, his violence and his perverse sexual desire roiling off of him in waves so thick that it had been difficult for Severus to breath while he was there. He had been nauseated by being in the man's presence for a matter of minutes. His child had been there for fifteen years, struggling through his beatings, enduring the man's rapes. He shuddered violently, barely resisting the urge to gag. He now understood perfectly his son's reaction in Dumbledore's office when he had learned the truth.

"Shh. You did nothing wrong. You need to remember that it was Dumbledore that did this, Dumbledore that kept you from him. Now you know about Harry and you'll keep him safe. You are a good father" he said firmly. "You are doing a good job. No one can take him from you now. And the muggle can never hurt him again, even if he could get within ten miles of him."

Severus finally nodded and started to calm, leaning heavily into Bill's arms as Bill continued to whisper calming words to him. After a few more minutes he seemed to collect himself and finally stood with Bill's assistance. The other Weasleys approached slowly and didn't mention anything that they had just seen. They were all floored by the Potion Master's open showing of pain. They were more shocked by his tears than they had been by his violent castration of the muggle. After all, he had merely put into effect what each of them had dreamed about for the last six years. They had known that Severus had not always been firmly on the side of the light and one does not become a Death Eater through goodness and purity.

They quietly entered the house. Charlie and the twins looked around, curious at their surroundings, but did not speak. They knew that now was not the time. "Mindy" Severus called softly. She appeared in front of his almost immediately, taking in the sight of her bloody and broken master with solemn eyes. "Can you show our guests to my study? Show them where the drinks are. They can prepare what they want for themselves." She nodded and turned to take the young men down the hallway.

"Are you coming, sir?" Ron asked softly.

"I wish to check on my son first. I will follow shortly." They all nodded and followed Mindy toward the study and alcohol while Severus and Bill made their way toward Harry's room. They arrived to find an empty bed. Severus felt his heart stop for a moment before Bill tugged him toward Hermione's room.

"No doubt they're in here. He was all excited about that new book, remember? They probably fell asleep talking about it." He quietly opened the door and immediately spotted two still forms on the large bed. Harry was curled up in a tight ball on the side closest to the door and Hermione was stretched out on her side facing him but a few feet away from him. A small pile of books lay between them.

Severus let out a shaky breath and stepped closer to his son. He reached out a shaking hand to touch his son's hair lightly and simply stood there for a few minutes stroking the silky hair. Tears streamed down his face. Bill finally stepped in and lightly pushed him back. He bent down and scooped Harry into his arms to carry him to bed. Harry tensed momentarily and then almost immediately relaxed and leaned in towards the warmth of his lover, sighing lightly. Bill carried him to his own room and gently tucked him into bed. Harry's eyes fluttered for a moment but he remained in a deep sleep.

Bill and Severus locked eyes for a brief moment and then they both turned to leave Harry's rooms. They walked in near silence to the study to join the other Weasleys in a much-needed drink or two.

Ron met them at the door with large glasses of whiskey. Clearly, he and his brothers had already enjoyed quite a few drinks themselves. Severus downed his in one swift motion. Bill looked at his drink for a moment and then looked at his pale brothers and did the same. George rushed to pour the two men more whiskey.

"Well. That's finally done." Fred finally said. Severus was marginally surprised to note that the twins were deadly serious for once and they had been for the entire evening once they heard their destination. Severus quickly swallowed his second drink.

"Merlin it feels good knowing the bastard can't touch him again" Charlie said, anger bleeding into his words. Severus let out a choked sob and poured himself another glass. Bill helped him sit on the sofa and then sat down close to him, offering silent comfort.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what…" Severus said quietly.

"It's alright" Bill said immediately, cutting him off. "We've had six years to deal with this. You've had less than a week. We understand. You look how each of us has felt for a large part of the last six years." Red heads nodded solemnly at their oldest brother's words. They knew they would never be able to laugh about any of this. They could never find true joy in the events of the evening although they did find some satisfaction. And they sure as hell would never mock Severus for his reaction. Gods knew they had had similar reactions over the years. They had each turned to the other multiple times for comfort when it all became too much.

Ron quickly started to pour everyone another round. They all needed to get good and sloshed after the events of the evening. Severus met his eyes when he was handed a new drink. "Thank you" he rasped out. Ron nodded. Severus didn't need to tell him that he was thanking him for more than just another drink, although that was clearly appreciated as well. Severus was offering his heartfelt gratitude to the boy for his love and protection of his son.

The men sat long into the night, finishing bottle after bottle of liquor. Finally, the twins took their portkey back to their apartment and Charlie decided to go with him rather than return alone to the dragon colony. No one wanted to be alone that night. They couldn't stay the night at the manor or else Harry would know that they had all gone to the Dursleys together. They never intended for him to find out any details of what had happened. They knew that Harry would be upset, regardless of the fact that the muggle deserved much, much worse than he had gotten.

Ron, Bill and Severus stumbled up the stairs, offering assistance to each other when needed. They finally made it to their rooms and Severus and Bill watched Ron open the door to Hermione's room and throw himself onto her bed fully clothed, clearly passing out before he even hit the pillow. Hermione looked up, startled, but upon seeing her professor and Bill in the doorway and taking in Ron's state of inebriation she nodded her understanding and lay back down to sleep. She didn't know exactly what had happened but she doubted that she wanted to know. She understood though, that Ron was scared to be alone tonight and needed her comfort. She slid the books aside and she curled up beside him, offering her love and friendship as best she could.

Severus and Bill closed the door softly and met each other's gaze for a long moment that spoke volumes. They both knew that everything had changed between them tonight and neither one seemed to regret it. Severus was finally at peace with Bill's relationship with his son. He finally saw Bill as a man and not a misbehaving student and as his almost son-in-law. He knew, without a doubt, that Bill would always be a part of his and Harry's lives. Without another word they parted and made their way into their bedrooms to try to find some sleep.


	22. Officially a Father

A/N: Minor sex scene. If you don't want to read it, skip the first two paragraphs. It still probably doesn't come close to an M rating but so many people are kicked off of for underrating that I wanted to keep it safe. 

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Chapter 22 

Harry stretched lithely in his bed, glorying in the soft sheets and comfortable mattress. He had never slept in a bed as comfortable as the beds at Snape manor before he came here. He had never known that such beds existed. As he registered the presence of his lover next to him he nearly purred in delight. He tugged the sheets further down, discovering a deliciously naked Bill waiting for him to devour. Harry moved further down on the bed and began lightly stroking his lover's semi hard member, coaxing him to readiness. Within moments he was fully hard and Harry bent down to take him in his mouth.

Bill shot awake at this new sensation, finally aware that this was not, in fact, a dream. "Good morning, love" he whispered in a sleep gravely voice. Harry didn't pause his ministrations but simply smiled as much as he could around the rather large cock that filled his mouth and reached down to stroke himself. Bill twisted his hands in Harry's hair to hold him closer and groaned as Harry took him in deeper. Before long Harry could sense that Bill was getting close. He redoubled his efforts and twisted his other hand up to massage Bill's balls lightly, swallowing around the twitching cock. Within moments Bill had shouted his way to completion and lay gasping on the bed, Harry quickly following.

Harry sat up, smirking. "Enjoy your wake up call?"

"Mmm. Very nice. Now go away you little pest and let me sleep." Bill tried to roll over onto his stomach but Harry lay down in front of him, right where he wanted to lay. Bill rolled his eyes and stayed on his side, pulling Harry in closer to him, tucking Harry's head under his chin and throwing a leg over Harry's thighs. "Sleepy. Go 'way."

"I can't very well go away when you're holding me down" Harry said lightly. He was silent for a few moments before he continued; this time much more quietly. "Today's the day that Severus is going to the Dursleys. I can't sleep."

Bill heard the barely masked terror in Harry's voice and stopped feigning sleep. "Severus will never give you up, Harry. He will do whatever it takes to get them to sign the papers. I have full faith in him. He will never let the muggles near you again."

Harry looked him in the eyes, trying to see if Bill was merely placating him. When he was finally convinced that Bill was speaking from the heart he gave a small, jerky nod.

"Let's go get some breakfast, love. If you are determined to be up this early then I need some coffee." Bill rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the wardrobe to pull out some sleep pants. Harry smiled a bit at the sight of his exhausted lover and went over to walk with him downstairs, not bothering to put on real clothes either. As they opened the door they saw Hermione's door open as well. Hermione, of course, was already fully dressed and ready for the day. She rolled her eyes at the boys' sleep mussed hair and Bill's semi-clad state and joined them for the short walk to the balcony for breakfast.

Bill was slightly surprised to see a wide-awake Severus Snape sitting on the balcony but he covered his shock quickly. He didn't know how he himself was awake and functioning after the amount of alcohol he had consumed last night, much less Severus. Severus drank nearly twice what any of the Weasleys had drank and had done so twice as quickly. Clearly, the man could hold him liquor.

"Good morning" Severus said with considerably less snark than usual. He was still somewhat subdued by the events of the evening before as well as nervous about how to present the custody papers to Harry.

"Morning" Harry muttered while Bill merely grunted. He was entirely too hung over to make coherent conversation without some coffee. His earlier romp in the bed had been a miracle of epic proportions. Only Harry would have been able to coax any sort of response out of him after the previous night's binge. Merlin's balls, he hadn't even gone to bed until around 3 a.m. Waking up at 7, regardless of how wonderful the blowjob had been, was not an experience he hoped to ever relive.

Hermione, much more awake and always more aware of her manners than the two boys, greeted the potions master properly as the three sat down. Harry grabbed a small muffin and put it on his plate and then stared into his coffee cup as if he expected it to give him the answers to life. When Bill nudged him to start eating he finally picked up the muffin but he only proceeded to tear it into little pieces, none of which actually made it into his mouth.

Bill entered a glaring contest of sorts with Severus before he finally won. Severus cleared his throat. "Harry…Tallis." Merlin, he didn't know how to do this. He didn't want to have Harry upset at him for having lied to him the day before. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? Beads of sweat started forming as he frantically tried to think of a good way to ease into this conversation. "I have obtained custody of you." Hmm. Well, perhaps that didn't so much ease into the conversation as it did simply throw Harry into the middle of it.

Harry blinked twice, completely shocked. He sat in silence for a moment, not daring to believe that he had heard his father correctly. Severus was growing more and more nervous, uncertain exactly what Harry's reaction was. Was Harry mad at him for doing this without him?

Finally, Harry looked up at him. "It's done?"

Severus stood and walked over to his son's seat, pulling out a copy of the signed papers as he went. He laid them in front of his son, allowing him to see for himself.

Harry carefully read through the documents, checking every word. He stood abruptly and he craned his head back to look into his father's eyes. "It's really true. You're really my father now? You won't give me back?"

"Never, Harry. Even without the papers I wouldn't have given you back to them. Now I am just certain that no one could take you away from me."

Harry gave his father a shaky smile and he peeled his shirt off. Severus looked confused but he didn't say anything. His son was eccentric at the best of times. He tried not to comment anymore on his strange behavior. Harry reached out and grabbed his right wrist, pulling his hand towards him without actually touching him. He grabbed a sharp knife from the table and sliced his father's hand open, allowing the blood to run freely. Severus still didn't say anything, although he was starting to get an idea of what was happening.

Harry pulled his father's bleeding hand toward him and placed it in the center of the large circle of runes on his chest. As soon as the blood touched his skin the runes started to glow a pulsing platinum. Harry began to hiss softly in parseltongue, a long and unintelligible chant. When he finished he let go of his father's hand and touched the blood that had dripped down his chest and stomach and collected some on his fingers to brush over the bands on his wrists and ankles. He repeated a shorter but similar chant with each new band. He finally turned his back to his father for the first time in Severus' memory.

Somehow, Severus knew exactly what his son wanted him to do. He reached for the knife again and made an identical cut on his left hand and then placed his cut hand on top of the last circle of runes that filled the middle of his son's back. When he touched it all of the runes began to glow a deep, burnished gold. Hermione gasped quietly and Bill looked surprised but remained silent. Finally, the runes returned to their original black and Harry turned back to his father.

"May I touch you now?" Severus asked softly, almost fearing the response.

Harry gave a jerky nod.

Severus reached out and pulled his son into his arms, clasping him tightly to his chest. The two men hugged each other, completely ignoring the blood that covered Harry's chest and back as well as the blood that still fell from Severus' hands.

"Why now? Why not before? I was still your father before I had the papers."

"I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure you wouldn't get tired of me and give me away. I wasn't sure you wanted me" Harry said softly, muffled against his father's chest.

Severus sighed and hugged Harry tighter. "Of course I wanted you Harry. I could never give my son away. You'll always be my son."

Ron walked in, ignoring the Potions Master and his friend and took Harry's empty seat next to Bill. He downed Harry's extremely sweet coffee, grimaced, and poured a second cup as he tore into Harry's shredded muffin. When he finished that and was piling Harry's plate high with more food he finally noticed everyone staring at him.

"What?"

"Didn't you notice anything, Ronald?" Hermione asked tartly.

"Mmm…Harry's about three seconds away from giving up any pretence of being a boy and is going to turn into a girl? Honestly, mate, sometimes I worry about you. I can't take this much lovey dovey schlock this early in the morning. Least you're covered in blood though…that's kind of manly. But truly, it's taken my appetite clean away." Harry looked pointedly at Ron plate that was overflowing with food. "Well…at least wait 'til lunch next time. A bloke's gotta get in a good breakfast." Harry laughed and sat down on Bill's lap to continue with breakfast. "Good job though mate," he said quietly to Harry, although the others caught his softly spoken words.

Bill smiled lightly at his brother's words and Harry reached over to punch Ron hard in the arm. "Oi! What the hell was that for Potter?"

"Just clarifying my sexual identity for you. Any questions?"

"Very macho, Harry" Hermione observed factually as she spread more marmalade on her toast.

"You know, you would have been a bit more convincing in your macho display had you not been sitting on my brother's lap."

Severus gave a small smile and began his breakfast with much greater enthusiasm than he had before now that he was no longer nervous. Who knew the youngest Weasley could be funny? He would never admit to thinking such a thing but there had been a few times that he had to catch himself from laughing at something Weasley had said.

Bill absently cast a cleaning spell on his lover to remove the excess blood as Harry started to add absurd quantities of sugar and milk to Bill's coffee to make it the way he liked it. Bill rolled his eyes. Looks like he would have to drink his coffee Harry-style today.

"So what the hell was all that anyway? Or do I not want to know?"

"My father got custody of me this morning" Harry announced proudly. Severus' head shot up at Harry's words: this was the first time he had called him "father." Harry looked at him nervously, awaiting a judgement. Severus smiled at his son and continued his meal.

"So Harry, or I suppose it should be Tallis now, shouldn't it?" Harry nodded quickly. He was eager to put Harry Potter behind him and start life as Tallis Snape. "Can we use the lab today to work on the potion? I'm not certain about a few steps and maybe the three of us can work it out" Hermione said, also looking to the Professor for affirmation. She hoped that he would be working with them. As good as she and Harry were it could never hurt to have a master help them.

"That would probably be a good idea."

"Oi Mione! What about me and Bill?"

"I'm going to work today. I can't call off forever. Some of us have jobs, you know."

"What about me then? I can help too."

"No!" Hermione and Harry shouted at the same time. Severus smirked. He was glad he didn't have to be the one to turn the Gryffindor down. The boy was truly wretched at potions. Ron didn't look terribly surprised, just resigned to his fate. Clearly, it was rare for his son and Granger to allow Weasley to help them with experimental potions.

"So what am I going to be doing?"

"Do you know what a focus stone looks like?" Severus asked suddenly.

"Yes, why?"

"I believe we have found something for you to do" he said, smirking evilly at Bill. Bill realized what Ron would be doing and looked relieved that he wouldn't have to do it himself. "You may go to the Snape vaults at Gringotts and find the Snape focus stone and bring it back. I'm not entirely certain where it is. It may be in vault 276 but it could be in any number of other vaults in my wing." Ron looked a bit put out at the goose chase he was about to begin. "While you are there you may look through anything you find to see if anything may be of use for us later. I will send Tayle with you to ensure that you don't stumble upon anything particularly dark."

Ron perked up a bit at hearing this. Focus stones were rare but not enough so that it would be terribly exciting to look for one. Being allowed to look through centuries of Snape artifacts though, would be incredible. They were an incredibly wealthy family with powerful contacts. They were sure to have some fascinating relics in the vaults as well as some useful books and scrolls. Maybe he could find something to help his friend out in the war.

"I'll come help you when I have breaks and I'll meet you for lunch" Bill said, knowing how lonely it could get in those enormous vaults when you had to spend the entire day there. Ron looked a bit relieved at this.

"When you are ready to come home you may take your portkey back here. I will make you a more permanent one than your letter later on but for now, please simply reuse that." Everyone continued their breakfast quietly for a moment, enjoying the lovely morning.

"Were you able to get any of my things when you went by the Dursley's?" Harry asked hesitantly. He didn't particularly want to bring up his muggle relatives but he wanted his books and photo album, at the very least. When he had run away he had only had time to pack a small satchel of clothes and his invisibility cloak. Everything else had had to stay there.

Severus looked startled. "I'm sorry, Tallis. I didn't think of it. I can go get them immediately if you wish. Or perhaps the Weasleys can go by there on their way to or from Gringotts." He noticed that his son seemed to think that he had simply "dropped by" the Dursleys this morning, handed them the paper and then promptly left. He decided to leave him with the delusion. He knew that no matter how richly the wretched creature had deserved what he had done to him that Tallis would object to the punishment. He never saw himself as worthy of anyone's defense or protection. They still needed to work on his self-esteem.

"No. It's not that important. I don't want them to go there." Harry wanted to sink into the ground. He never wanted them to see exactly how bad the Dursleys were. He had kept a lot from them over the years. He was also terrified that his uncle would hurt them. He couldn't live with himself if his uncle did something to either of the Weasley boys. While they were both too large for his uncle to accost sexually he would not put it past Uncle Vernon to try to hit them.

"Its nothing Har…Tallis. I don't mind going. It won't take but a few moments. Everything is in your room, right?" Ron said, trying to calm his friend down. After having seen the muggles last night he now understood why Harry was getting so worked up over the mere idea of his friend entering their home. They were worse than he had ever imagined. He had long known that Harry wasn't telling them even a fraction of what happened in that home but even with that knowledge he had found himself shocked.

"I don't know. I don't think you should go."

"I'll be with him, love. Not to mention Ron's already had his birthday so he can use magic if he needs to. We'll be fine." Bill also knew that they would be fine since Vernon was likely still completely incapacitated from the events of the evening before but he was not likely to tell Harry as much.

"I don't know. I…I guess you could maybe go. Uncle Vernon should be at work by now, I think. I guess…I…if you don't mind going by then that would be good. My trunk is probably locked in the attic or else my cupboard. I have a few things under the loose floorboard near my bed, if you don't mind getting that as well. I guess that's it."

"It will be fine. The muggles won't even know I'm there. I'll take your cloak if you want and then they really _won't_ know we're there. We can use magic to undo the locks on the front door and the attic so I won't actually need to talk to any of the muggles at all."

Harry looked slightly calmer upon hearing this revelation. "I'll give it to you when we go upstairs. Thanks. You don't have to do this" he reassured them again.

"It'll take like ten minutes. Its fine." Ron knew that this was a big deal to his friend for a variety of reasons, not least of which was his genuine terror of his uncle. For Harry it really was a big deal to simply walk into the house, much less to try to talk to anyone in it.

Severus nodded his approval of the plan and quickly made another portkey to take them to Privet Drive, giving them quick reminders to use as little magic as possible and not to use any on the muggles which pleased Harry, albeit for different reasons that Severus had originally suggested it. Everyone quickly finished and returned to their respective rooms to prepare for the day, eager to see what they could find.

-

A/N: From here on out I will call Harry by his new name, Tallis, except when people slip. When it is in third person though it will always be Tallis. Just trying to avoid confusion.


	23. More Manipulations Revealed

A/N: Thank you, everyone who has reviewed. Your words, as always, are incredibly encouraging. I have actually been in a bit of a writing frenzy recently and have actually gotten Tallis and Co. back to Hogwarts. Only a few more chapters of summer to go (some of you have been asking).   
Also, I am trying to keep my quick update schedule since I know that so many of you really like that. I always hate it when stories I am reading are updated on a really slow schedule. Anyhow, enjoy! 

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Chapter 23 

Tallis and his father stood in the lab, working steadily through the long list of potions that Poppy needed for the school year. They had worked together nearly every day since Tallis had arrived at the manor. It gave them a chance to get to know each other while having the distraction of potions to keep things relatively calm and to allow escapes when needed. Tallis wasn't the only one who had a painful past, although Severus had his pain originate more through acquaintances than family.

Their work had also given them time for what Tallis referred to as his "Slytherin lessons" which were detailed lessons on everything that a pureblood would have been brought up knowing. At times Tallis wanted to curse all purebloods for learning such useless garbage but for the large part he found the information fascinating. He had to learn all of the family trees as well as how to behave in any given situation.

Severus did not pound the proper behavior lessons into his son's mind as much as the family tree lessons since he knew that Snapes could always get away with acting differently than expected. The entire Snape clan was known to be a bit eccentric. His son could do whatever the hell he wanted and no one would really be terribly shocked. Severus sure as hell did. He never bothered with the fawning friendship that most purebloods pretended with each other. He loathed a great deal of them and they all knew it. The social elite of the purebloods found it eccentric and endearing. Severus, in turn, ignored them.

Tallis had also learned a bit about his father's school years and his days as a Death Eater through their conversations. Severus had a decent childhood compared to what many would have believed. His father had been strict and certainly yelled and lectured a lot but was by no means physically abusive. It was all bluster and Severus had always known that. As he had said before, Snapes always stood together. No true Snape would ever hurt another, especially a child. Tallis had been rather surprised to learn that his grandfather had never hit his father. When he had first learned that bit of information he had worked in silence for four hours as he thought about what a powerful statement that was. Severus allowed him the time to think things through. He knew that he had, once again, turned his son's world on its end. Harry had never really thought that anyone aside from the Weasley family enjoyed an entirely abuse-free childhood. He was starting to understand that the Dursleys were the ones on the far, far extreme rather than the Weasleys.

Bill continued to stay at the manor during the nights. Severus thought momentarily about objecting but soon gave up. It made both of them happy to be together and (as much as it horrified Severus to admit it) he liked Bill's company as well. The three spent quiet evenings together playing chess or cards or simply reading. Since that emotional day on the balcony when Tallis gave his father permission to touch him the three had grown much closer. It was clear that Tallis was still holding back a bit but he was almost a completely different young man since he had arrived.

Harry pulled his stool out to be able to reach the counter a bit better. The contractor had been able to lower the ingredient racks and rearrange much of the lab but he had not been able to do much about the counters. Although it seemed that they would have been the easiest to fix they were, in fact, the most difficult. The counters were composed of thick layers of marble and granite, inter-layered with protective spells and strengthening spells to keep the lab safe. Potion explosions were likely when working with experimental potions which Severus enjoyed doing in his free time. They couldn't simply lower the counters by the requisite eight or so inches; they would need to be completely rebuilt from the bottom up. He and Tallis had finally decided to leave the counters as they were and for Tallis to continue using the stool.

"The professors were all extremely impressed with your practicals. How did you feel that the written exams went?"

"Pretty well. There wasn't anything that I had no clue on. There were a few herbology questions that pulled me up a bit as well as astronomy. I don't think I did poorly on any of them though."

"I'm sure you did well. Your examiners in DADA and charms told me that they believed your work to be at the mastery level most of the time and the potions examiner told me that were it not for the mandatory years of work he would be ready to award you a potions mastery based on what he saw today. Quite impressive."

Tallis blushed and looked down to focus on his potion. "I doubt they were that good. Maybe they just like you and so they wanted me to do well."

Severus snorted loudly. His son clearly had a warped view of the world if he thought that the examiners _liked_ him. "Tallis, I somehow doubt that they liked me at all, much less enough so that they would embellish my son's scores. You earned their praise. You are quite talented. Classes must have been painfully boring for you these last few years."

Harry nodded but changed the subject. He hated hearing praise. He never felt that he deserved it and it embarrassed him. "Are we still planning on testing the potion and spellwork tonight?"

"It would be prudent to do so. Your birthday is only a week and a half away. We need to have everything prepared to put into action on the day after your birthday to give us as much time as possible. If there are any problems with tonight's run then we will have the next ten days to correct it."

"Have you and Ron decided who we should test it on?"

Severus sighed. He really didn't like the answer to this question. Frankly, he didn't want _any_ of them testing an unknown substance tied so closely with an unknown spell. And unfortunately, it couldn't be tested in any other way than actually giving it a go. He personally would have wanted to test it first on a house elf and even if that hadn't provoked violent reactions from Granger and his son they couldn't have done it. The potion and spell would only work on humans. Fully magical creatures were completely immune to its effects, at least in theory.

"It appears that Mr. Weasley will be undergoing the treatment this evening, much to my disapproval."

"Who better to do it? I would suggest myself but since the Imperius curse doesn't work on me I'm not entirely certain that this one will either. Mione wouldn't be bad but if something is wrong then we'll desperately need her help to fix it. Bill would be a bad choice because if anything bad happened and he was out of it for a day or two he would be missed at work and people would be alerted that something was wrong. You have to be the one actually performing the spell. You're the strongest one of us, well at least that's of age, and we need to get an accurate reading of it so it will compare for when I do it. Ron'll be perfect, trust me. He can also take the chance to test for himself the weak points of the spell. He's truly the best one."

Tallis now knew that he was stronger than any of the others. They had used the focus stone a few weeks ago to test his strength. The stone was spelled so that it would not allow the ministry to be alerted to underage magic use so that parents could test their children. Tallis had tested as a light silvery white—the nest to highest color. Severus believed his son would test pure white when he came into his majority on his birthday.

Severus sighed and continued stirring his wildly bubbling potion. Perhaps the Gryffindors were right. It was damned frustrating though. He spelled down the flame under his potion and removed the cauldron to start decanting the potion. Harry had already finished his and was already straightening up his section.

"Who is expected to dinner tonight? We need to warn the house elves."

"I already spoke to them this morning when I got my coffee. They're all coming because they want to see how everything works. Bill might be a bit late though but asked me to hold work on the spell 'til he gets here."

"Have you decided what the release words will be?"

"I'm not certain. Hermione thought they should be in parseltongue for safety's sake but I argued against it for the same reason. What if I die and no one can ever release them from the spell?"

"You will not die. I won't allow it." Severus said quietly but intensely. He knew he was being completely irrational but the pain he felt when he thought of potentially losing his son was intense. Tallis stepped over to his side and started helping him clean up.

"I'm not planning on dying, but it is a distinct possibility with the number of people I have who have listed me as number one on their To-Kill list. I'm just trying to be rational" Tallis said softly while scrubbing out his father's cauldron.

Severus wanted to yell back that he'd damn well better stay alive but he thought better of it and simply turned away to store the potions. Being a father was so much harder than he had ever thought it would be. He decided to shelve the conversation for the time being.

"Shall we go upstairs and see it your friends have arrived yet?" Severus motioned Harry out of the lab toward the hall. The two Snapes walked quickly to the sitting room where all of the portkeys now dropped guests. Hermione and Ron were already there, curled up on chairs in front of a small fire.

"How were the tests? Were they really hard? Did you study enough? Oh Merlin, I'm going to fail them, aren't I? Was it absolutely miserable? Should I revise my study plans? I know I haven't scheduled enough review time for potions or astronomy."

"Hermione, Hermione, breathe! The tests were fine. Easy, in fact. I'm sure you'll ace them when the time comes. If you revise that damn study plan one more time I believe I'll burn it."

Ron started laughing but Hermione looked horrified at the thought of losing her beloved and much-revised study plan. "Only you would think the NEWTs were easy, mate."

"They really aren't that bad Ron. I'm sure you'll do well."

"Shall we move on to the dining room? Bill may be late so he requested that we begin without him" Severus said in response to Hermione's questioning look. The four set out for the dining room, eager to begin their trial run of the spell.

"We'll need to double our study time this year with the NEWTs approaching, Ron" Hermione informed him factually. Ron didn't even attempt to stifle his groan.

"Where exactly is it that you three study, if I may inquire?"

"Um…" Harry looked nervously at his friends. No matter how many times he revealed information about his life to his father he still got nervous that _this_ time, _this_ information would be the bit to push his father over the edge and decide not to keep him. "Well, we wanted somewhere private, where people couldn't get to us. And we wanted somewhere that we could store things if we wanted to, that no one could reach. And it needed to be somewhere that even Dumbledore couldn't get to." Severus nodded, trying to encourage his son to continue in a more timely fashion.

"Well…wesortofcleanedupandtransformedtheChamberofSecrets" he mumbled quickly, waiting for his father to start yelling.

"Excuse me, I don't believe I heard you correctly. What did you say?" Severus said, blinking. He couldn't have possibly heard his son right. There was no way that the Gryffindors, no matter how foolhardy they were, would have ventured down into Slytherin's chambers on a regular basis. For Merlin's sake, there was a basilisk down there! Who knew if there were other, more dangerous creatures?

Tallis blushed lightly. "We use the Chamber of Secrets."

"It's quite lovely now" Hermione filled in helpfully. "We moved the basilisk into a side hallway and sealed it off to preserve it and we got rid of all the standing water."

"Yeah, and Dobby helped us to find some old furniture and rugs and things to make it better. It's great. And it seems to be unplottable since it's not on the map or anything. Not to mention that even if Dumbledore does know that we go down there he couldn't possibly follow us. Harry…sorry, Tallis opens it for us and then we go down and then Tallis starts to close it just before he steps in. And there are multiple passageways that are also controlled by Parseltongue passwords. We are perfectly secure down there." Ron finished, thinking he might have calmed his friend's volatile father down.

Unfortunately, this proved to be the wrong thing to say. "You were perfectly secure in a chamber that is known to house basilisks?" his voice had started out low and strained but was nearing a hysterical screech by the end. "You purposefully locked yourselves tightly into a set of chambers that has served as a home for dark creatures for hundreds if years? A room that no one else beside the Dark Lord himself could open up to give assistance were it needed? Have you all gone completely mad? What is _wrong_ with you three?"

"Erm…well, it seemed to be a good plan at the time. We already looked around for other snake nests but we didn't find any. And we've sealed off any passageways that we don't use. We can reopen them with a password that is in French so that a snake doesn't accidentally open it. Trust me, its fine down there. You can even come see when we get back to school." Tallis put in, trying to placate his father.

"You will not enter that chamber again without me with you" Severus said hoarsely. "Once I am certain that it is safe you may continue to use it. I suppose it might be useful to have a safe haven within the castle itself that Dumbledore cannot reach us at. But you do realize, I hope, how incredibly and dangerously rash your actions were?" he said, clearly still furious with them. The three Gryffindors nodded furiously, trying to calm him down.

They spoke lightly of what the three students hoped to have happen after they finished their schooling. Granger of course wanted to continue her education at the university level. She wasn't certain of what field she wanted to apprentice in yet since she loved them all so much so she decided to complete the three years of wizard university before she made up her mind. Weasley hoped to work for the Unspeakable department. With his skills with strategy he just might have a chance. The boy was clearly intelligent, if a bit impetuous.

Bill rushed in just as they finished dinner, bending to give Tallis a quick kiss on his soft hair as he sat down beside him. "Sorry I'm late. Things are crazy at Gringotts right now."

"What is happening that you are busier than usual?" Severus asked quietly.

"Someone tried to break into some vaults. We're not quite sure who yet; we're still testing the remains." Tallis and Hermione shuddered at that statement.

"Whose vault was the target?" Ron asked.

Bill looked nervously around the table. "We believe that it was one of the Potter vaults."

"Excuse me?" Tallis looked startled. "There's only one Potter vault and it doesn't have enough security around it to kill someone. Not to mention that there are surely better targets out there. I have a lot of gold in the vault but nothing nearing most of the pureblood families."

Severus set down his goblet and cleared his throat. "I'm not certain where you got your information from, Tallis, but the Potters were an old pureblood family. They had acquired a fortune nearly as large as the Snape fortune before you were born. It might even be larger by now, with interest added."

"No. I have one vault. I went to it before my first year. It had lots of gold though."

"No Tallis. I thought you knew or else I would have told you long ago. That is just your inheritance vault intended to support you through Hogwarts. You have an entire hall of vaults as well. How could you not know?"

"How the hell could I know Bill? Who was there to tell me? My loving relatives?" Tallis' voice was thick with sarcasm. He was growing angry…he hated it when other people knew more about him than he did, and it seemed like he couldn't escape it. Even worse than them simply knowing these details though, they always reproached him when he didn't know them.

"I didn't mean it like that love. I just…I thought everyone knew. I was certain that you did. I'm sorry."

"Tallis, no one means to attack you on this, we're just surprised. Didn't you realize when you read the will that that amount of money couldn't possibly be in your vault?" Severus stepped in.

"What will? Will someone start talking about something I've at least heard of before?"

"You have read your parents…I mean, your mum's will, haven't you?" Hermione's concern shone through. She felt bad for her friend but she also knew that he was nearing his breaking point. The air was growing thick with his anger. Severus looked down in alarm as he felt the table tremble slightly.

"They never wrote a will, or if they did then I never saw it" Tallis growled.

"But surely…surely Dumbledore showed it to you when you arrived at Hogwarts. Even I knew that he was supposed to do that. Legally, he was forced to do so if he had not done so before. I don't know what to say, Tallis." Severus tried desperately to placate his son while he tried to work out exactly how this had happened. More accurately, since he knew _how_ it had happened he wanted to discover what the purpose of withholding such information had been.

The table started shaking violently as did the rest of the furniture in the room. The air was shimmering lightly, as if Tallis' magic was so potent that it had become visible even though no spell had been used. Bill noticed this and he pulled Tallis into his arms, knocking his chair over in the process. Bill held Tallis firmly with one arm as he pulled Tallis close to him, forcing him to look directly into his eyes. He started breathing deeply, encouraging Tallis to do the same, as he ran his hands firmly over his shaking lover. No words were spoken as Bill continued to help Tallis regain control.

Severus was shocked. He had never experienced anything remotely like this. He was also insanely grateful that the Gryffindors were present for this conversation. He wouldn't have had any idea how to calm his son and if he had made the wrong move Tallis could well have leveled the manor without a thought.

Ron and Hermione looked on sadly. They had witnessed their friend lose control a few times and the results were never pretty. Luckily, Hermione and Bill were able to help him regain control most of the time before it got too out of hand. Ron had never been able to calm him quickly enough but he had gotten close. It had been a while since Tallis had last lost it this badly.

Finally, Tallis took a deep shuddering breath and began to actively reign his magic in on his own. He shuddered one last time and then slumped against his lover. Bill cradled him closely as he hung limp in his arms and stood up. "I'll take him up to bed. We can discuss everything with him in the morning." Ron and Hermione nodded solemnly and watched sadly as Bill left the room with his lover in his arms.

"What just happened?"

"Sometimes Har…Tallis losses control a bit. Bill was helping him regain control. As we saw when he tested with the focus stone, Tallis is incredibly powerful. At times it feels as though he has too much power to be contained in a single human body. When he loses his temper like that he lets loose such immense amounts of magical energy when it is over he loses consciousness…or awareness perhaps is a better word since he is not actually unconscious. He simply loses the energy to actively move or speak resulting in a sleep-like state. He'll be out for the night, at least" Hermione quickly explained.

"This happens often?" Severus prayed silently to the gods that it was a rare occurrence but he knew within himself that it wouldn't matter either way. No matter what, Tallis was _his_ son and nothing could ruin that for him. Nothing could take his son away or make him regret having claimed him.

"Not really, no. Hasn't happened for what, Mione, four months?"

"Five."

"Yes, that's right. Five months. It probably only happened two or three times a year."

Severus nodded and stared blankly at his goblet. Ron and Hermione conversed quietly as they waited for Bill to come back down. After about ten minutes he reappeared and picked up Tallis' still overturned chair before sitting down himself. "He's still out. He didn't even stir when I changed his clothes."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at this. Tallis was _never_ out of it enough to allow such a thing. He must feel truly safe here to have let his guard down that much. Severus didn't even have the energy to look irritated by Bill stripping his son naked and then telling him about it. "Is everyone staying the night? We can perform the test in the morning, if that works for everyone."

"I have nowhere to be."

"Me neither" Ron said around his enormous bite of cake.

Bill rolled his eyes at his brother. Nothing could possibly make him lose his appetite. Bill picked up his goblet and sighed. "I have to be at Gringotts by seven to check and see how far the night workers got on ID'ing the body. If they still don't know who it was then I'll need to stay at work. The earliest I can be here will probably be one or so."

Severus nodded. "Perhaps we can wait until after our luncheon to try everything. I would like to have all of you here for observation. The more eyes watching the better."

They all nodded. The Professor was right. "If I'm home earlier then we can do it then…assuming Tallis is up by then."

"Of course. I wish to go look in on my son. He _is_ decent, isn't he Weasley?"

Bill smirked but gave in and stopped the torment. "Of course he is. I put some sleep pants on him."

Severus turned around and quickly left to go check Harry. The three Gryffindors quickly finished their desert and then left to go to the library to look over the spell information one last time.


	24. Covering Our Tracks

Chapter 24 

Tallis yawned as he felt himself slowly wake up. He blinked slowly, trying to remember exactly how he had gotten back to his room and changed into pajama pants. Before he could figure it out though, he heard a rustle a few feet away from him. He shot up in bed, instantly remembering past lessons he had learned from the Dursleys. Hermione's soothing voice quickly filled the room. "Shh…Harry. It's just me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you."

Harry's brow wrinkled. "What are you doing here Mione?"

"I was worried about you after last night so I came in here to read and watch over you" she said as she hurriedly shuffled her pile of books bad papers into some semblance of order.

The events came flashing back in rapid succession. The extra Potter vaults. The money he didn't know he had. The potential family heirlooms he had never seen. The will he had heard of before. His eyes flashed dangerously. Hermione instantly tried to calm him down. "Har…damn it, Tallis. You need to stay calm about this long enough for us to figure out exactly what is going on. Bill is trying to get a copy of the will from Gringotts today but it is difficult to do so secretly. He's trying to pull a few strings to get it done off the record. As long as they'll give it up without recording that he took a copy of it out of the bank then we are safe. Even if all the goblins know about him taking it they would never tell any other wizards about it since they like to stay out of wizarding affairs. We just need to talk them into doing it without making any notes that could ever potentially become public domain."

Tallis nodded briefly, trying to calm down. He supposed that made sense. Bill would do what he could at work and his father would help him to sort it all out once they had a copy of the will. He didn't give a damn about the money but the fact that yet another secret had been kept from him was eating away at him. There was also the possibility of family heirlooms that interested him. His father had told him that most of the wealthy pureblood families had a few vaults of valuable (and sometimes not-so-valuable but certainly memorable) heirlooms. It was tradition that each member of the family place items within the vaults when they came of age and throughout their lives. Perhaps his parents left something in there for him!

"I'm sorry. About yesterday. I didn't mean to."

"Tallis, we all understand. It was a lot to learn about and not a good way to learn it. But don't worry, we're taking care of everything. Bill will get a copy of the will for you and you can go see your vaults someday. And it was actually good, in some ways, that it happened." Tallis looked up quizzically. "Well, if it had happened for the first time when you were alone with Severus he might not have known what to do. This way he could understand."

"I'm a freak." Tallis whispered. He hadn't yet thought about the fact that his father had never witnessed him doing that before. Maybe he would get rid of him now! Severus had been excited when he had tested his power and the test had shown how incredibly strong he was but now that he knew what came with it he wouldn't be so happy. But no, Father had told him that he would never give him away. He needed to remember that. Tallis quietly began to repeat the mantra _My Father will never give me away_ in his mind to calm himself.

"Oh no, Tallie, you're not. You are very powerful. From what I can tell it is relatively common for people as powerful as you to struggle to control it occasionally." Tallis perked up a bit at this but still looked a bit groggy. "Come on, let's get some breakfast. It's a bit late but no doubt Ron's still eating."

"You two stayed the night again?" Merlin, he was feeling out of it. He usually slept longer after such an episode and he could only blame his completely incoherent state on his early wake up.

"Yes dear. We decided it would be best. And Bill hopes to be home from work around one."

Tallis felt terrible. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make everyone change all their plans. I'm so sorry" he repeated.

Hermione put her arm around Tallis' shoulders. She smiled softly. She couldn't imagine him being taller than her. He had always felt like her baby brother and it just seemed wrong to her to imagine a tall Tallis. She knew he wished he was taller but she loved him exactly as he was. "Tallis, none of us minded. You know we love being here. We'd just move in if we didn't think it would drive the poor professor insane."

"Tell you the truth, I think he rather likes you both. Not that you'll ever hear him say that, mind."

Hermione made a rather unladylike snort. "Tolerate, maybe. Only for your sake. Trust me, Severus Snape would never willingly spend time around a bunch of Gryffindors." The two reached the breakfast room and ended their conversation for a bit. It had rained early this morning so they had to eat inside. The elves had offered to spell the balcony so that the rain couldn't fall on it but everyone had decided to simply stay inside and spare the elves the extra work.

"Morning mate. 'Bout time you got your lazy arse out of bed."

Tallis smirked and started putting some fresh fruit on his plate. Once the elves had realized what his tastes were they had gone out of their way to supply a wide variety of the summer's best fruits for him. As he grabbed the spoon to dish out some blueberries Ron glanced down at his hand.

"What are you going to do about that?"

"What?" Tallis looked down, confused. What was wrong with his hand? It looked fine to him.

"The scar from your Umbridge detentions. You'll need to be doing something about that. I'd rather not risk your safety to something as uncertain as a glamour. I know it is a small scar but a few people know about it and it would be too easy to uncover you. Glamours are too quickly undone unless you can figure out whatever the hell your mum did all those years ago to make hers last for bloody forever and while staying completely undetectable."

Tallis looked to Hermione who shook her head. "I've been reading up a bit on long term glamours since this all happened and I'm no closer to cracking anything than I was before. The woman must have been a bloody genius" she said in amazement.

"Another tattoo?" Tallis asked, uncertain how else to permanently cover part of his skin.

"Looks like it mate. What do you think you'll get this time?"

"I'm not sure. I'm going to go tell my father that we need to go get a new tattoo today. Maybe my father will come with us. We can go before Bill gets off work. Might as well fill the morning with something useful." Ron and Hermione smiled at Tallis' slightly conspicuous use of the word "father." It was all so new and special to him. They had never experienced as much pleasure out of a simple word as Tallis could. They had always known their parents. They perhaps appreciated their luck in the wonderful families that they had more now that they knew exactly how bad it could be through some of Tallis' stories but they still would never take as much joy in saying the words as Tallis did.

"I believe I'll come with you. I'd love to see his face when you tell him you need another tattoo." Ron quickly swallowed the rest of the food on his plate and carried it over to the side table for the house elves to clean. He said a few words of thanks to the elves that were in the room with them for their breakfast. While he didn't really agree with Hermione's old crusade to free the house elves he had learned that he should be kinder to them. They worked incredibly hard and often received few thanks.

Tallis rolled his eyes at his friend's answer. "Honestly, you act like he'll throw a fit or something. Why would he care if I got another tattoo? It will be pretty small anyhow," he said, looking down at his small hands, trying to imagine what would look good there.

"I believe I'll join you as well" Hermione said in amusement. Tallis was clearly not aware of the typical parental reaction to tattoos. Having never had a parent who cared what he did with his body it had never occurred to him in all the years of working on his plans that most parents would have vetoed such a plan from the very beginning. Not many parents would happily see their young children covered head to toe in body art.

She also couldn't wait to see the hoops the Professor was willing to jump through to be able to express his dissatisfaction without raising his voice or alarming his son. That should be interesting. She had noticed long ago how hard the Professor worked to keep from snapping at his son or frightening him in any way. She knew it must be difficult for the surly professor. His snarkiness in the classroom was only partly created to protect his role as a spy. A great deal of it was simply his sense of humor and his personality.

The trio walked down the hallway looking for Severus. They found him in his study, pouring over some documents. "May I help you?" he asked dryly.

"I need to go get another tattoo this morning. Do you want to come?" Tallis asked, blissfully unaware of the potentially explosive response such a question could evoke.

Severus' mouth actually dropped open in shock. He sat there, gaping at his son for a full thirty seconds before he could collect himself. "Why exactly do you _need_ another tattoo?" he asked in a strained voice, trying to remain calm.

"To cover up my Umbridge scar."

"Your what? Start explaining, now." Impatience started bleeding into his tone and he couldn't do much to keep it out.

Tallis began to get a bit fidgety, his first sign that he was getting nervous. "Umbridge gave me a lot of detention" he explained. Severus nodded tightly at this, motioning for him to go on. It was clear that he did not understand what that implied. "She assigned me lines, lots of lines." Again, this statement was met with a nod and a blank stare. "She made me use a blood quill."

Severus cursed violently and stood abruptly from his desk, his chair flipping over. Tallis backed away from him quickly and bumped into Ron's lanky form before he seemed to recollect who he was backing away from and he bravely stood his ground. He may not be able to control his instinctive responses but he could damn well stop cowering when he knew there was no need. He knew that his father wouldn't hurt him. He wasn't entirely sure _how_ he knew but he knew, deep within himself, that Severus would never lay a hand on him in anger. He had known that even before he had found out that Severus was his father. He had always felt safe around the professor, even when the Potions Master was yelling at him during class.

"Let me see the scar" he barked out impatiently. He was clearly holding back the larger part of his anger in an effort to not terrify his son. Even in his anger he had seen his son's initial reaction and had known that he needed to calm down.

Tallis took a hesitant step forward and when he realized that he was safe he continued until he stood only a few feet from his father. He held out his right hand that bore a light scar reading "I must not tell lies" in his own sloppy handwriting. Severus bit back a growl as he lightly touched his son's scarred hand.

"Why did you not tell anyone?"

Tallis shrugged his shoulders and didn't respond. Severus figured the answer was self-explanatory. What adult would Tallis have trusted enough to tell? Black, perhaps, but he was a criminal on the run from damn near everyone in the wizarding and muggle world alike. The headmaster had already proven himself untrustworthy many times over. His head of house often ignored his needs, as she had done since his first year. Of course he hadn't told anyone. Severus took a few, deep breaths to calm himself. How dare that cow harm his son. His poor boy truly wasn't safe anywhere.

"What were you thinking of getting?" he asked lightly. This time Hermione and Ron's jaws dropped. Whatever they had been expecting, this was not it. Hermione soon realized that the Professor's anger at Umbridge and the outrage that his son had endured while supposedly safe at school far outweighed any irritation at another tattoo.

"I don't know. Any ideas?"

Ron suddenly spoke up. "I know! When I was little I once saw a pureblood guy with his family crest tattooed on his hand. He had it on his right hand so whenever he shook hands with anyone they instantly knew who they were dealing with. Why not get the Snape crest? It'd be wicked cool."

Tallis looked hesitantly at his father. He liked the idea but he wasn't certain if his father would. This would rather loudly announce to the world that Severus had a son.

Severus looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. "I believe that would suit. Do you have anywhere in particular you wish to go to get it done?"

"If we go to a muggle shop then they'll think I'm rather crazy…but I don't mind that. There's a good shop in London, not more than a few blocks from the Leaky Cauldron."

"Are there any wizard tattoo shops you would like to go to?" Severus asked.

"Well, there's also a wizard shop I've wanted to try for a while in Diagon Alley. If we go there though then you will be announcing to the world, today, that you have a son. Are…are you ready to do that?" he finished nervously. He knew that his father intended to eventually announce it but he probably had some sort of schedule worked out in his mind for when things should happen. He didn't want to mess it all up or force him to do it before he was ready.

Severus looked pensive for a moment. "I believe that would be an excellent idea. I prefer to do everything on our own schedule without any possible interference from the old man. If we wait until September 1 to announce you then there is always the possibility that he will do something to thwart our plans. This way we announce it on our own terms. It will be in the papers tomorrow and then there is nothing he can do. Yes, I think that this is actually going to help us immensely."

"That's true. Once you announce him to the world as your son Dumbledore can do nothing to stop anything. He can't prevent you from accepting an apprentice when you see fit and he can't separate you from your apprentice. You two will be safe, or at least as safe as you can be with You Know Who after both of you" Ron reasoned out.

"How will you two disguise yourselves?" Tallis asked his friends. After all, not just anyone could be seen with the Snape heir upon his unveiling to the world.

Both Ron and Hermione turned to their professor. "Any ideas?"

"Well…the idea has occurred to me that you could just be yourselves." All of the students let out shocked exclamations at this statement. "No, listen. I've been thinking about this for a few weeks now. What if Bill had met Tallis while he was visiting some cousins at the school? They started dating soon after and have now dated for two years." He brushed Tallis' objections to the word dating aside. "If you are no longer The Boy Who Lived then it will finally be safe for you to have a relatively normal life. A life that _includes_ dating who you want." Tallis nodded reluctantly.

Severus turned to Ron. "If your brother had been dating someone for two years it seems rather likely that he would have introduced his family to his boyfriend at some point in time. Tallis is very close in age to his youngest brother so it would not seem abnormal for the two of you to become friends."

"But how will we deal with potential Harry Potter sightings?" Hermione asked nervously. "People will probably assume that Tallis is Harry if they spot the two of us by his side. They'll clearly see that he is not after they look for longer than a second but it will already be established in their minds that Harry Potter and Tallis Snape are very similar.

Ron started getting involved in the plan. "I have a better idea. Do you have any Polyjuice potion on hand?" Severus nodded. "How about if we wait for Bill to get home. Bill and I accompany him as ourselves. We'll need Bill there to make everything convincing since he _is_ the one dating Tallis. And Mione can become Harry Potter for a few hours to dispel any possible connections. We can meet "Harry Potter" while we are in Diagon Alley shopping and we can all greet each other. Maybe we could all even go out to a meal or something."

"It's not too likely that my father would ever take Harry Potter out to a meal" Tallis pointed out.

"Perhaps all of the Gryffindors can go out together for ice cream while I visit a few shops in Knocturn Alley. Do you believe, Miss Granger, that you can be a convincing Harry Potter?"

"Of course, professor. He's been my best friend for six years. I know his habits better than he does. It will take a while to get used to being so short though."

"Hey!" Tallis yelled indignantly, shoving her away from him. "Its not my fault that you are abnormally tall!" Everyone smiled at his definition of "abnormally" tall. 5'7" was not considered to be particularly tall by anyone else.

"Let's go get ready. I will fetch the Polyjuice potion from my stores. We will do that and then layer it with some heavy duty glamour spells, I suppose. I know it can be a bit risky but I don't know what else we can do." Everyone nodded. They well knew the dangers of a canceled glamour spell but there wasn't much choice in the matter. At least this way if something happened she would be exposed as Tallis Snape and not Hermione Granger. It would confuse the hell out of everyone but they would be ok.

Everyone went to their rooms for quick showers. Tallis stepped out of his room thirty minutes later with slightly damp hair and a nervous smile. He was going to get to tell the world who his father was! He tugged down his white short sleeved T-shirt impatiently. He was wearing a pair of dusky, aged blue jeans that his father had specially ordered for him when he had inquired about the muggle clothing. His T-shirt was tight and occasionally rode up a bit, exposing his Parseltongue tattoo between his hipbones.

Ron was already waiting for him, dressed in his typical Weasley fare. "Good choice for your shirt." Tallis looked down, somewhat confused. "You can tell that you have tattoos on your chest but you can't tell exactly what they are. You can just see the shadow of them." Tallis nodded. He had rather hoped that you could see a bit. "What are you going to do about hurting people if they touch you?"

Tallis looked up nervously at his friend. "I turned it down for the afternoon. If someone brushed against me they'll feel static electricity but nothing more." Ron looked floored that his friend had done such a thing on his own. Tallis rushed to explain. "I didn't want to but I know that I'll need to be meeting people today as the Snape heir and so I will need to be shaking hands with them. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to embarrass my father by wearing gloves and everything. It's the middle of summer for Merlin's sake! People will think I'm insane!"

"I doubt he would care. You know he just wants you to be comfortable."

"I'll be fine as long as I have you three with me. If Bill has to leave my side at all will you help me?" Ron nodded. He knew how difficult this would be for his friend. He was frankly surprised that Tallis wasn't shaking in fear. He knew that his friend truly was terrified, even if he was trying to play it off as light nerves.

Bill came up the steps then and saw Tallis and his brother standing in the hallway talking. "What's going on?"

"We're going to Diagon Alley to get a new tattoo." Bill raised an eyebrow at this statement. "To cover the Umbridge scar." Bill nodded his understanding. He had been concerned about that as well for quite a while but had wanted to wait a bit for things to settle down before he sprang that on Tallis. The time seemed to be right for it now though, and Tallis seemed happy about getting a new tattoo.

"Are we going to get to come with you?"

"I'll explain while you dress" Ron offered to Bill. "Tallis needs to go with the Professor and Mione to get her ready." The two Weasleys disappeared into Tallis and Bill's room, Ron already talking quickly to fill him in on everything that had happened that morning.

Hermione stepped out dressed in some of Harry's old clothing, drowning in the enormous cast-offs. "Honestly Tallis, I don't understand how you ever wore these things. They're huge on me and I'm a lot bigger than you!"

Tallis rolled his eyes and they waited impatiently for his father to come out of his room. He finally did and he motioned to the two Gryffindors to follow him. They quickly walked to the study while Tallis hesitantly explained what he had done with his tattoos to his father. He finally finished the explanation in the study, nervously wringing his hands on the hem of his T-shirt. Severus grabbed his hands to stop them from tearing his clothing to pieces. "I think that it is a wonderful idea, Tallis. I was hoping to suggest such a thing to you sometime in the future. Let's see how today goes and then we can work from there. Don't worry, Bill and I won't be more than a few steps away from you at any point today. If you start to get nervous then you can use your portkey to come back here."

"What portkey?" Tallis asked, confused.

"The family ring that I gave you is actually a portkey. Twist it so that the stone faces your palm and say Snape Manor and it will drop you right on the doorstep. If you feel at all threatened or even if you just can't handle being out anymore you should use that immediately."

Tallis nodded his understanding and looked down at the ring on his right hand. It was a rather large platinum ring with an onyx stone in the center. The onyx had been engraved with an elaborate 'S' and was inlaid with platinum. His father had given it to him a few weeks ago, explaining that the Snape heir always wore it. He loved it, more so because it was given to him by his father than because of the immense monetary value of the ancient ring. He had received few presents in his life so he always valued each one highly.

Severus reached out and cut a small piece of his son's hair to place in the vial that contained the Polyjuice potion for Hermione. He swirled it a few times and then passed it to the girl who looked at it warily. "I suppose there's nothing for it. Oh Merlin, help me to keep this down" she whispered as she hesitantly drank the disgusting potion. She gagged for a moment but successfully kept the potion in her stomach. Her body underwent the rapid change to turn her into a perfect image of Tallis. "Wow…it feels strange to be a boy" she said, and then squeaked at how deep her voice suddenly was.

Severus hid a smile by turning away from the young lady-turned-man. Tallis laughed. "No peeking, mind." Hermione glared her answer to that comment and then looked down to readjust her clothing.

"Honestly, how did you deal with clothes this large Tallie? I just don't get it. The pants are falling off of me!"

Tallis laughed lightly and then pulled her shirt up to help her with the pants. "Hey!" she squealed indignantly, trying to cover her chest up.

"You do realize that this is my body, don't you?" Tallis said dryly. "Its not like I'll see anything new here." Hermione blushed lightly. It _was_ hard to remember that she wasn't a girl right now. She allowed him to tighten the ancient and fraying belt around her (his?) slim hips. The pants still felt as if they would fall at any given moment.

Bill and Ron entered the study and laughed at the sight of Tallis readjusting clothing on what seemed to be his identical twin. Severus pulled out his wand and motioned his son away from Hermione. He incanted a number of spells quickly, casting numerous glamours and protection charms on her. She looked surprised at the spells that he had cast. "You need to remember, Miss Granger, that you are now the Boy Who Lived. You are not safe, even in Diagon Alley. Perhaps Mr. Weasley should accompany you and then we can all meet up outside the tattoo shop. If you feel at all in danger then you must take your portkey out of there immediately. I have readjusted the password to be 'protect me' in order to preserve the identity of the location you are going to." He clasped a small and unobtrusive necklace around her neck and she immediately tucked it into her shirt.

"Are we all ready?" Bill asked and everyone nodded. "Does everyone have their portkey?" Again, everyone nodded the affirmative. "Let's go then."

"We'll go through first by floo. You two are to take that portkey that is sitting on the desk to get there. Wait at least ten minutes. It will drop you off outside the Leaky Cauldron, near the door. Be careful, and be aware of your surroundings at all times. I know you are accustomed to being near the Boy Who Lived and so are aware of the heightened security that you must have but you are not accustomed to actually _being_ him. Never assume that anyone is safe or trustworthy. Only go into shops that you have been into before. Do not ever leave each other, not even for a moment." Ron and Hermione/Harry nodded solemnly. They would have found his instructions irritating a year or so ago but now they knew that he was just trying to keep them safe. They also now knew that he was completely right in his warnings. They knew better than to brush aside such advice.

Severus, Bill and Tallis turned to the fireplace and Severus threw the floo powder into the fire, saying the password that would allow them to floo out of the manor. He stepped through first, followed by Bill. Tallis went through last. They had been worried that if both Snapes went through first then Bill would be stuck at the manor. Ron and Hermione/Harry looked at each other nervously. Everything needed to go right today. If it did then the school year would be made much easier. Tallis would be more secure in his position and they would be able to be near their friend more often than they had ever dared to hope. After a bit more then ten minutes passed they took a deep breath almost in unison. Hermione gave Ron a shaky smile and they both reached out for the piece of blank parchment that would take both of them to the Alley.


	25. Unveiled to the World

A/N: Don't forget…in this chapter Harry is Hermione and Tallis is Harry. Confused yet? Don't worry, it only lasts for one chapter, then everyone is back to normal. Well, Tallis will still be Harry but Hermione will be Hermione. 

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Chapter 25 

Tallis stumbled out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron but managed, for the first time ever, to remain on his feet. He must have inherited some of his father's magnificent poise and grace. Pity he hadn't gotten more of it. He wondered briefly if his mother was as clumsy as he was but he quickly set the thought aside. He knew that he needed to remain focused for the entire time he was here. As long as he was focused a touch shouldn't unsettle him _too_ much. Taken by surprise though, could have disastrous results.

He jumped slightly as he felt a spell brush over him. He looked up at his father who quietly said "Cleansing spell…for the soot." Tallis nodded and then went to stand beside Bill. Bill noticed how nervous Tallis was and he leaned down to grasp his hand tightly.

A soft ripple of noise went through the bar at this movement as everyone realized that it was not, in fact, a coincidence that Bill Weasley came through the fire at the same time as Severus Snape and a boy who appeared to be a close relative—perhaps even a son. Conversation immediately began throughout the pub to try and guess who the young man was.

Severus didn't say anything but he nodded curtly at Tom and led the way through the bar to the entrance to the alley. Bill and Tallis followed close behind. The three stepped into the alley, immediately looking around them to ascertain if there were any threats present. No one could be seen who presented a visible threat but they were all still on their guard. Severus, after all, had recently been exposed as a spy.

It was rather unlikely that Voldemort would decide to attack Diagon Alley in broad daylight on a busy shopping day just to get to him but it was still a possibility. Severus knew though that the Dark Lord would be unable to amass a very large portion of his Death Eaters in the middle of the day with no warning to wage a full scale attack on such a highly populated area, all in order to find a single man. He would risk losing too many of his supporters all to gain one man to have a bit of revenge. The costs would never be able to meet the benefits and the Dark Lord would lose heavily if he tried to put such a plan into action. Even still, he knew that they needed to be cautious.

He had long since rethought his plan to separate from the students and decided that they would all simply shop together for a while before leaving. None of them could stay long—Hermione's Polyjuice would only last around an hour and a half after she arrived. She had a second dose with her if she needed it but they hoped to not need to use it. The glamour would hold regardless of whether or not the potion was still active but they all felt it was safer this way.

The three immediately turned toward the apothecary to pick up some ingredients. Severus entered the shop first, happy to return to one of his favorite places. He could spend hours in the small shop, looking over new potion supplies and canisters of ingredients. Tallis entered eagerly as well, followed by a slightly reluctant Bill. The shopkeeper greeted Severus warmly, pleased to see his favorite customer and longtime friend. They chatted lightly for a few moments while Tallis and Bill looked throughout the shop. Severus handed his list to the man and he began to look over some of the latest innovations in the field as his friend began to gather and measure out ingredients.

"Who is that with you, Severus?" he asked curiously, hoping that the surly professor wouldn't snap at him for his question. He and Severus got along better than most but he was still cautious of irritating the potions master too greatly. You could never really tell what would set the potions master off.

Severus turned to his son and allowed a small smile to slip onto his face. "This is my son, Tallis Snape. Tallis, this is Milton Jacobs." The shopkeeper's face betrayed complete and utter shock as he shook Tallis' hand in a daze. "I believe you know Bill Weasley" he said, saving Tallis from an endless handshake with the shocked man. Bill pulled Milton's hand away and shook it firmly, returning the poor man to the present.

"I wasn't aware that you had a son, Severus" he said, looking between Tallis and Severus, taking in the remarkable likeness as well as the many differences. The boy was clearly old enough to date the oldest Weasley boy yet he was as small as many third year students. He was also very clearly covered in tattoos—something that he would have never imagined his friend allowing his son to do. Some of the tattoos even seemed to be muggle in nature! Evidently there was much about Severus Snape that he didn't know.

"He has been away for his schooling and will now begin an apprenticeship at Hogwarts under Poppy Pomfrey. He will also work with me to perfect his potions abilities" Severus said proudly to his old friend.

The shop assistant came out from the back room just then and stared blatantly at Tallis, looking his up and down. Tallis was oblivious as his attention was entirely focused on a new copper coated stirring rod but Severus was irked. He was perfectly aware that his son was not only incredibly eye-catching with the amount of tattoos he had but that he was also quite beautiful but honestly, what kind of man would ogle his son in his presence?

"I didn't know you had a son, Professor." The shop assistant was a Ravenclaw who had graduated a number of years prior. Severus had never liked him. The boy was entirely too sly for a Ravenclaw and he always spoke with a sort of oily obsequiousness that turned his stomach.

Severus barely reigned in his revulsion. "You were not alone in that" he snapped. He turned back to his friend. "Please send our packages on to Snape manor. Good day" he said curtly. He nodded once again to his friend to let him know that he would tell him more later but not while the irritating shop assistant was present. Milton looked equally irritated by the young assistant's presence. He too had been shocked by how rude the boy had been to stare at the Snape heir when he was clearly out with his boyfriend and his father.

The three stepped from the dim shop out into the bright alley and spotted Harry and Ron near the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. Ron looked over to them and waved to his brother and Tallis, dragging a seemingly reluctant Harry with him to visit with his brother and lover. The crowded streets parted for the Boy Who Lived and his friend, allowing them to make their way easily to the Professor and their friends. Milton lurked in the doorway, trying to see more of the mysterious Snape boy.

Ron shook hands with Tallis in greeting and then greeted his brother. Harry smiled a greeting to Tallis and Bill and then looked down when he caught Snape's eye. Severus glared at the Boy Who Lived for good measure and then gruffly greeted his students. The four young men chatted while Severus glared at any overly curious passersby. Parvati Patil saw the group and rushed over. She wanted to make a good impression on Harry so that he might date her this year. She knew she would look good in the papers at his side. She flung her arms around a startled Harry who quickly but gently pushed her away. She was promptly introduced to Tallis and the group began discussing the upcoming year.

Bill saw that Tallis was being carefully looked after by Ron and pulled Severus a few feet away for a much needed conversation. "I got it."

"You did?" Severus didn't need any clarification. He knew that Bill had managed, somehow, to get a copy of the Potters' will.

"Locked away safe at the manor. We can look it over tonight."

"And the remains?" Again, Severus felt the need to be a bit cryptic. One could not, after all, go asking after the charred remains of a would-be thief in the middle of Diagon Alley.

"No one terribly important or revealing. He was a mercenary of sorts, typically hired by purebloods to do their dirty work. Hopefully something in…the document will reveal what he was trying to get to. Do you have any idea what they could have hidden in there that as worth risking death over?"

"Besides a mountain of gold? No, I have no idea. Hopefully we'll be able to learn something from the papers."

They were pulled back to the rest of their group sparking the rather welcome departure of the Patil girl. Severus looked down at his son. "Is she always like that?" he whispered. He had watched the girl fawn over Harry the entire time, trying desperately to get his attention.

"Usually worse." Severus shuddered. The girl was like a bloody leech, grabbing on to Harry the second she saw him. They were lucky that Hermione wasn't as put off by touch as his son was. He could only imagine what would have happened if it had been his son in the Harry Potter disguise.

The group set out for some more shopping, chatting quietly about Quidditch and Hogwarts. They stepped into Flourish and Blotts to pick up Harry and Ron's books for the next school year.

Tallis stepped over to the healing section and started picking out some books for his apprenticeship. Much of his apprenticeship worked like an independent study. There were a few things that he would obviously learn but for the most part he was allowed to direct where he wanted to go in each field and what texts he wanted to work with. If he ultimately chose a field that his mentor was not practiced enough in then it would be her duty to find a suitable mentor to take her place with Tallis.

He picked out a large stack of books that ranged throughout the field. He wanted to get a general idea of what was out there before he chose a specific area to specialize in. He struggled to carry all of the books before Bill saw his trouble and took them out of his arms to carry them to the counter for him. Tallis thanked him with a grateful smile and turned back to the section one last time and pulled out a few more books and then walked to the counter with Bill. Severus was already waiting there impatiently. Ron and Harry stood to the side, looking nervously at their moody professor, as expected.

"Did you find everything you need?" Severus asked his son, politely helping Bill set the towering stack of books on the counter to be totaled up.

"I think so. I wanted to get a few general healing texts to begin the apprenticeship with and then I got a few introductory texts in various fields of healing, like setting bones, healing wounds, treating dark curses, and a bunch of other areas. I thought I'd also see if Poppy had any other suggestions for me to pick up before the school year."

The shop attendant listed closely. It looked like the Mediwitch at Hogwarts was accepting an apprentice. It looked like that apprentice was a relative of Severus Snape! He couldn't wait to spread the gossip. He finally finished adding up the books and presented the enormous total to the gentlemen in front of the counter. He wasn't entirely certain who would be paying for it. Severus took out his key to give an imprint so that the total could be removed from his vault. The clerk's answer seemed to be given to him. Evidently the boy was Snape's son…but how was that possible? When had Severus Snape ever been married? Or even had a lover for that matter.

Tallis noticed a woman about thirty years older than his father looking at them more closely than most people had dared to. She finally realized that he had noticed her staring and she blushed lightly and then approached the group. "Severus, I haven't seen you in years" she said softly.

"Professor Read, it has been quite a while" Severus said as he reluctantly accepted a hug from the woman.

"And who is this young man?"

"This is my son, Tallis. Tallis, this is Professor Read. She helped to lead my potions mastery when you were still young."

Tallis extended his hand to the woman in greeting but she instead pulled him into a tight hug. Tallis instantly froze. It took all of his power to keep from bolting. When she released him he immediately returned to Bill who wrapped his arms around him to help keep him grounded and aware of what was going on. His large arms also served to mask the light trembles that racked Tallis' frame. Ron and Harry exchanged nervous looks but quickly tried to erase any hint of worry from their faces. Tallis was working hard to disguise his terror and they didn't want to be the ones to give him away.

"Whenever did you have a child, Severus?"

"Quite a number of years ago" Severus replied dryly.

"I can see that, Severus," she said, both exasperated and amused by her surly former student. "What year is he in school?"

"He has finished school and will begin an apprenticeship with Poppy Pomfrey at Hogwarts in around a month."

"I assume he'll study under you as well?"

"Of course" Severus nodded. "Do you really think I would allow anyone else to lead his mastery?"

The witch laughed lightly. "Oh, It was good seeing you Severus! We don't write nearly enough. And it was lovely meeting you dear." She reached out and lightly pressed her hand on Tallis' arm. He smiled hesitantly back to her. He knew that she meant no harm but she was really freaking him out by how much she was touching him. "I must run. Always busy, you know!" The witch stood on her toes and gave Severus a light kiss on the cheek and then left the store with a stern reminder to owl her more often.

Severus looked apologetically at his son who was clearly a bit shaken by the whole encounter. "She's always been very friendly. Professor Read was very kind to me though when she instructed me. She took care of me when I had no one else to. I haven't seen her for years but we do write every month or two." Tallis smiled at his father and he quickly regained control of himself. "You're doing well today, Tallis." Tallis' hesitant smile turned into a grin. His father sounded proud of him! That one small compliment meant more to him than the thousands of empty compliments he had always heard heaped on Dudley had ever done.

Severus returned to the counter and shrunk down the books and placed them in his pocket for safekeeping. They left the bookshop to wander around the alley some, seemingly looking for an interesting shop to go in to. They headed for the tattoo shop in a round about manner, not wanting anyone to know that this was their true destination and the reason for the entire trip. They wanted everyone to hear the end result of the trip but they didn't want to be harassed along the way. Quiet murmuring could be heard all around them, and snatches could be made out. "Snape's son…" "Must be…" "…potion shopkeeper…" "apprentice." Severus smirked. Evidently the plan was going as they had hoped. The gossip cycle had already been started.

They spotted the tattoo shop across the street. Tallis asked if they minded waiting for him to get a quick tattoo done. Wizarding tattoos didn't take terribly long, especially if you were getting something that they might already have on hand, like a family crest. While family crest tattoos were relatively rare they still were asked for often enough that most large shops kept them on hand. The whole process would probably last less than thirty minutes.

Severus nodded his agreement and he escorted his son into the shop. Tallis spoke to a lady who was working in the front taking requests and charging the clients for the work that they wanted done. She took one look at Tallis' extensive tattooing and immediately sidled up to him. "What gorgeous work! You didn't get any of that done here, did you? I'm sure I would remember someone like you" she purred, clearly hitting on him.

Tallis didn't notice her attentions. "No, I got it done at a bunch of other shops but I've never made it in here. I wanted to get my family crest done on my right hand though."

"Certainly gorgeous." Bill barely held in an impatient growl. Tallis might be oblivious to her flirting but he was not. He stepped closer to Tallis putting a possessive arm around his waist as he glared at the presumptuous girl. She looked nervously to the tall Weasley and quickly realized her mistake. She immediately became all business again, especially upon noticing for the first time exactly who accompanied him. It would not do to piss off the head of the Snape family.

"Snape crest, I presume?" Severus and Tallis nodded. "I'll need the head of your family to sign permission for you to get the crest done. We don't want just anyone getting it, you know." Severus quickly signed the requisite forms and handed them back to her. "Follow me, we'll get that done right away."

Tallis motioned to his father to accompany him and they stepped behind a screen to get the new tattoo done. Tallis knew he could have gone by himself but he felt more safe with his father by his side. Plus, he was worried that the artist would feel the need to chat while he or she was working on his new tattoo and he wasn't entirely certain he could answer any questions that came up correctly. With Severus there the artist would no doubt remain relatively quiet. His father could cow anyone into silence if he wanted to.

A heavily tattooed young woman motioned him over to the table and introduced herself. Tallis placed his right hand in front of Audrey for her to work on the placement of the tattoo. Severus looked around him, curious at the whole experience. He had never been in a tattoo shop before. His son seemed completely at home though which made him want to smile. It wasn't often that Tallis was this comfortable somewhere. Clearly, he had long seen tattoo parlors as safe havens of some sort, or at least as places that would eventually lead to safety.

When the woman had the crest positioned to her and Tallis' liking she began the spellwork to mesh the picture with his skin. Because it was not using the potion that Tallis had invented it would not affect his spell in any way. Getting tattoos before had been quite a bit more work because he had to find shops that were willing to use his potion as a base for all of the inks so that they could all be interconnected. He had also needed to find a new shop as often as humanly possible. He didn't want to risk anyone starting to recognize or remember him. He had found a few very discrete shops that he knew wouldn't ever talk about the mysterious man who showed up demanding a tattoo with an unknown substance as the base but for the most part he had visited new shops with each tattoo session. This new tattoo would exist completely outside of his system though.

After about ten minutes of constant chanting the woman paused for a while to allow everything to set. "I always love the crest tattoos. Not many opt to get them anymore" she said, looking at Tallis closely.

Tallis shrugged. "Seemed like a good addition."

Audrey nodded and changed topics. "Your other work is gorgeous. Who designed them, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I did." The woman looked surprised. Severus was shocked for a moment as well before he remembered his conversation with his son in the lab on that first day of their work together. Tallis had briefly mentioned something about drawing his tattoos. He had more pressing concerns at the time so he had skipped by it and promptly forgotten it with all the chaos that had been surrounding their lives recently.

"They're wonderful. Have you ever sold any of your designs?"

"Not yet. I like having one of a kind work. Maybe someday I will."

"If you ever do decide to then please contact me. I'm trying to open up my own shop and need a few more good designs to help me attract customers." Tallis nodded and she handed him a business card with her name and floo address on it. "You can always owl me as well. Just put my name and the floo address on it and any owl should be able to find me."

Tallis nodded and slipped the card into his pocket. Audrey took up her wand again to finish the spells to cement his new tattoo. Although this was a magical tattoo it would, for the most part, not move or change like most wizard tattoos would. This was magical mainly in the way that it was applied without needles. When she finished this time she lightly ran her fingers over the new tattoo to make certain that she had done everything correct. Tallis repressed a shudder at the close contact. Today had been harder than he had anticipated, and if he was entirely honest with himself he had only really come into contact with four people including one he had already known so she hardly counted. He didn't know how he would ever make it through the school year. He had come up with the plan a few days ago to try to do away with his harshest line of defense but now he wasn't entirely certain he could do it. He was glad that he hadn't mentioned that part of his plan to anyone yet. He knew they would be disappointed in him if he had told them of it and then backed out.

"All done. Let me know if you want anything else done. I'd love to do some more work for you."

Tallis looked down eagerly at his new tattoo to see exactly what it looked like. He was pleased that they had gone to a wizard tattoo parlor after all since metal tones were so central to his tattoo. Muggle tattoos could not create true gold or platinum tones the way that a wizard one could. The back of his hand now bore a large deep blue shield. The tattoo was just barely large enough to cover his scar but it did so perfectly.

The shield was edged in a thick bar of platinum with tiny gold stars running down the center of the platinum strip. At the top was a crescent moon that dipped over the top and bottom of the platinum lining. The shield itself was a deep blue that bordered on black in dim lighting. In the center of the shield there was a large and elaborate platinum 'S' that matched the one on his family ring. Twined around it though were black and green snakes that moved sinuously around the 'S'. They were so dark that they nearly blended in with the dark background but when they moved they caught the light, exposing their presence. He'd have to ask his father to explain the crest to him later. Usually everything on the crest was linked to common family abilities.

"Thanks Audrey. I'll keep you in mind." Tallis and Severus walked out of the small room and back out front to find the Gryffindors waiting for them.

"Let's see" Bill said, holding out his hand to inspect the new tattoo. "It looks great. I wish I could get one."

"Why don't you?" Tallis asked, curious as to why he wouldn't get one. He already had his ear pierced and he loved Tallis' tattoos so clearly he didn't have anything against tattooing or piercing.

"I doubt my uncle would permit it. Having this kind of a tattoo sort of implies that you are the heir. I'm quite a few people away from being the heir so it wouldn't be right."

Tallis clearly thought the reasoning was flawed but he didn't say anything. The group gathered their things and got ready to leave. They walked back outside, discussing what they would do for the rest of the day, largely for the benefit of the eavesdroppers who were listening eagerly. It was decided that Harry and Ron would go to the manor for a quick swim in the lake before they went back home. Severus suggested that Tallis portkey to the manor and open up the floo for the rest of them to enter. He knew that Tallis needed to get out of the alley and soon. He had done wonderfully so far but if one more person touched him he just might break.

Tallis immediately twisted his ring and portkeyed back home. By the time the rest of the group made it back to the Leaky Cauldron to floo back Tallis had already opened the connection to allow them through. They all disappeared from the alley, leaving behind a flurry of speculation about everything that had happened.

Rita Skeeter scurried back to her office to write up an article about the new and beautiful Snape heir and his relationship with the Weasley family and the Boy Who Lived. She knew her story would be front-page news. A new pureblood heir to a wealthy family that had been believed to be dying out who was dating the oldest son of an old pureblood family and a friendship with Harry Potter was guaranteed to sell out.

-

A/N: Undying gratitude to all of you who gave me suggestions. I am especially thankful for **rlmess** who actually researched the matter and told me some of the true meanings behind certain things, many of which I ended up using. My original shield lacked the moon but other than that it was very similar…now it just has a meaning beside what I randomly wanted it to mean.

For those who are curious (since I'm not certain if I will fit in a section with Snape officially explaining…we'll have to see).

Blue (the background) relates to fidelity, perseverance, intelligence, peace and contemplation. All good things for our Snape men.

Green (we see it in the snakes) shows the world of senses, liberty, health, hope and honor. Liberty, hope and honor are especially important to Tallis, in my opinion. Guess the others work as well.

Serpents symbolize a willingness to fight.

A moon symbolizes magical strength. The stars are there 'cus I like them. No real reason.

No reasoning behind the silver or gold or platinum. I just always wished that we could actually achieve those colors in our tattoos. I just have one (which I love) but the idea has always fascinated me.

Thank you to everyone for your help! You are all such great readers…your reviews are so insightful and give me an immeasurable amount of help and guidance as a writer. Thanks!


	26. A Day Out

A/N: Evidently the last chapter confused a lot of you. I guess parts of it _were_ rather vague. Here's what's going on:   
Hermione took the polyjuice to look like Tallis. _Then_ Severus applied glamours to make the Hermione-Tallis look like Harry Potter. The purpose of the polyjuice was so that if someone was suspicious and removed the glamour then Mione would still be protected as well as making it easier to apply the glamour (fewer changes would need to be made, especially in regards to height and sex). 

Nearly the entire visit was planned in order to stir up gossip and get a spot in the paper. They purposefully planned (rather loudly) to have Ron and Harry come over to the manor to spend the day. They wanted to establish in everyone's minds that Tallis is friends with both of them. This is how Tallis will be able to still be friends with Ron (and by extension, Hermione) while they are at school. They _wanted_ people to overhear the fact that Harry Potter was going over to Snape manor for the day.

I will fix the chapters in regard to the scar soon. I realized it yesterday morning before I posted the chapter but I didn't have time to fix it. As I said earlier, I don't have any of the texts here with me so I am going solely on my memory. Sorry!

Hope this clears some things up. Enjoy!

-

Chapter 26 

Severus sat at the breakfast table waiting for his son and Bill to make an appearance. The Prophet was spread out in front of him. They had, indeed, made the front page. Picture after picture of him and his son were splayed across the first few pages of the paper, all of them with Bill either wrapped around Tallis or else very close by. A number of them also included Harry Potter. Things couldn't have worked out better. Now, before school even started, people would have what seemed to be firm evidence to separate Tallis Snape from Harry Potter. They might be acquaintances or even friends but there was no possibility for someone to come up with the wild theory that they were the same person.

Strangely enough, if you didn't already know that Tallis had the tattoos you wouldn't be able to see them in the pictures. Bill's arms were either covering Tallis' arms or else one of the other Gryffindors was standing in the way. The article mentioned that he had gotten a crest tattoo that day but it didn't mention any of his other tattoos. Hogwarts was in for a shock, it would seem.

Tallis and Bill stumbled onto the balcony, eager for breakfast. They again started to unconsciously help each other to get everything ready as had become habit for them. "That the paper?" Tallis asked, clearly still waking up.

"Yes. We evidently made quite a scene yesterday with your appearance. I'm glad we got it over and done with now and didn't have to wait until the school year started. I believe that Rita Skeeter might have spontaneously combusted if a Snape heir was unveiled and Harry Potter disappeared at the same time. She wouldn't know what to do with herself." Tallis snorted. Sad thing was, he was completely right.

Bill reached over for the paper that Severus had finished and he spread it out in front of them. Tallis laughed when he saw a picture of the whole group of them with Harry cowering away from Severus. "That's a great picture of you glaring at Mione. Or Harry. Damn it, it's confusing seeing her as me. The old me. I give up." He took another long sip of coffee.

Severus smiled. "Yes. I thought it rather appropriate. Can you imagine the world's reaction if I had _smiled_ at the Boy Who Lived? Gods, a good half of the population would have died off from aneurysms alone. Perhaps I should have done it and rid us of some of the more irritating dregs of our society."

Bill laughed. "No doubt they would had a collective stroke. You know, Rita Skeeter actually seems to have done a relatively good job here. Aside from her rather inappropriate conjectures about our relationship and a few snide comments about your own possible connections with the Dark Lord she was fairly accurate."

"I'm actually impressed that she managed to stretch an hour long visit to Diagon Alley into a three page story" Tallis said as he spread a thick layer of jam on his toast.

"That woman could embellish a sneeze into the next world catastrophe" Severus said dryly. "At least she seems inclined to like you. I was worried that my own reputation would mar yours."

"Well now that your role has been exposed as a spy can't Dumbledore tell the world what you have been doing all these years?"

"Well he could do so but I sincerely doubt that he would. He'll probably keep it as a back up plan of sorts in order to have something to hold over us. He is fully aware that it is only on his word that I escaped Azkaban. I could be thrown back in there upon his word alone."

"We'll think of something, Father, even if it means blackmailing him ourselves."

Severus looked interested at that statement. "What…oh yes, yes I see. Yes, that would work nicely. I do believe that our beloved headmaster would cave immediately." Father and son smirked evilly at each other.

"Will you two stop talking Slytherin so early in the morning? I have no idea what you are talking about" Bill said grumpily.

"Tallis wishes to blackmail the Headmaster into revealing that I have been a spy for the past seventeen years" Severus explained. "If the Headmaster does not comply then Tallis can simply threaten to withdraw completely from the war. Without Tallis the war effort would be a complete and utter wash—more, it would be an enormous bloodbath as people on both sides slaughtered each other until there was no one left to kill. Yes, in lieu of such a fate, I do believe that Dumbledore would love to make a statement to the press."

The smirk slowly left Tallis' face. "We should keep that card for as long as we can though. As much as I would love to see you fully exonerated in the press I fear we may need it more later," Tallis said slowly. He had originally thought it a brilliant plan…he _still_ thought it a brilliant plan but he worried that they were facing bigger troubles than a potential PR battle with the Daily Prophet.

"You are right," Severus said with a sigh. "We'll keep it until we know that we must use it. If we went back to Hogwarts threatening blackmail on the first day then we would also instantly alert the Headmaster that he no longer has our full and unquestioning support."

"I don't want to go back to that school without having a few back up plans of our own. This might not be a perfect one but it could ease us out of a tight spot if needed. I know that everything should work out well but it still makes me nervous. Dumbledore is too crafty and frankly, he worries me more than Voldemort. At least Voldemort is predictable."

"Keep this in the back of your mind. You can go back to school and lull him into a sense of security. He'll return to a bit more normalcy and hopefully be a bit more predictable. And no matter what happens, you know that you still carry the trump card." Bill said, pouring himself more coffee.

They had all sat down and read Lily Evans Potter's will the evening before and Tallis' anger with Dumbledore knew no bounds. Lily had directly stated in her will that her child was, _under no circumstances_, to live with the Dursleys. She in fact preferred an orphanage over their care. It also detailed the amounts in each vault and set aside a vault for Remus Lupin, who clearly had never received it. He was yet another person harmed by Dumbledore's duplicity. While Remus had struggled to make ends meet over the last sixteen years he had, in fact, been the owner of a vault containing over a million galleons.

The will had been made out many months before their deaths so they mentioned nothing of their secret keeper or any other valuable information like that. Even if they had it wouldn't have done much good. Sirius was dead and Tallis couldn't possibly bring forth James and Lily Potter's will to prove that someone who was completely unrelated to him in any way was innocent. No one would believe it for a second and he would risk exposing them all, only to clear a dead man's name. It was perhaps fortunate that the will had no mention of anything to do with the fidelas spell, thus eliminating any potential turmoil.

James Potter had also named Tallis as the heir to the Potter family in a separate will. He wrote in his will that he was fully aware that the child was not his by blood but that he was bound to him by love nonetheless and that this bond was more important than blood. He had stated everything very carefully to ensure that his adopted son would be able to inherit everything upon his death and that no one could possibly contest it. He had kept his will separate from the main will so that if Tallis wanted to keep his true parentage a secret then he could do so by only releasing the words of the other will. The goblins were the only ones who knew that two wills existed. This will would also prove that Tallis should inherit everything if anyone ever tried to call his inheritance into question.

Nothing was found in either will that could have been important enough for the man to have tried to break in to their vaults. They would have to go themselves to the vaults someday to try to see if they could figure it out. Unfortunately, it did not look as if they would have time to do so before school started. Severus turned the problem over in his mind endlessly but he came no closer to a conclusion than Bill had. Unfortunately, the vaults could only be opened by the blood of the heir since they were still in a lockdown mode with the death of James and Lily. Money could be drawn out but no artifacts could be removed. It was impossible for Bill to go search the vaults for Tallis and it was too dangerous to send Tallis in, either as himself or as Harry Potter. The world was watching both young men right now and it would look mysterious for either one to disappear into Gringotts for hours on end. Questions were one thing that they could not face right now, with everything still hanging by a thread. The men had resigned themselves to not knowing the answer for a few more months.

"Speaking of spying," Tallis said suddenly, "is Draco still going to visit this summer?"

"It is doubtful. I have written Narcissa a time or two this summer. She is trying to arrange it for him to come over for a few days but I believe it will be too difficult and dangerous for us to arrange. Lucius is the only true believer in the family. Narcissa supports Him when it is convenient but the only person she truly supports is her son. She will do anything to keep him safe and happy. Draco has no desire to follow in his father's footsteps. For now though, it would be too dangerous for him to announce so openly that he plans to side with me rather than his godfather. I believe he will make his intentions clear when he is once again within the relative safety of Hogwarts walls but until then he needs to remain with his father."

Tallis nodded. "I suppose I'll 'meet' him on the train then."

"Have you decided what you are going to tell him yet?" Bill asked, well aware of the struggle that Tallis had been having over what to tell his father's godson about himself.

"No. I don't know. We'll see when the time comes."

Severus nodded. While he wanted Tallis to tell Draco the truth he would not force him to do so. Too many people had forced Tallis to do too many things in his short life and he would allow his son what autonomy he could.

"So, anything on the plans for today?" Bill asked.

"Well, the spell worked much better than I expected. I want to tweak the potion a bit to strengthen the occlumency aspect of it but other than that I feel good about it."

Severus hated to bring it up but he knew he had to, for their own safety. "Speaking of occlumency Tallis, I fear that we may need to begin your lessons again. We cannot risk the old man looking into your mind."

"He can't. I'm a natural occlumens."

"Tallis, I've worked with you before. You were…" he quickly searched for a word beside 'terrible.' "Well, you struggled with it. I believe we need to strengthen your abilities before we return to school."

"I really am a natural occlumens. Think about it. What was the worst memory of mine that you saw? A dog barking at me? My cousin threatening to hit me? Trust me, I safely hid all of the memories that I couldn't let you see deep within my mind. I only let those out so that you had a few "bad" memories to root through or else you would have known. I didn't care so much if you knew but I didn't want the Headmaster knowing and I was worried that you would have to report back to him."

Severus stared at his son blankly. How had he been so stupid? Even at the time that he was giving the lessons it was ridiculous that he had ever thought those few memories could possibly be as bad as it got. Hell, he knew that his son had killed a man with his bare hands in his first year! That alone was the stuff of nightmares in any normal child. And now, knowing what he did about his son's life, he could almost say that many of the memories that he had seen were probably his _good_ memories, comparatively.

"I can't believe I missed that. May I test you?" Tallis nodded and looked up at his father. "Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready. I never drop my shields."

Severus nodded and raised his wand. "Legilimens" he said quietly but firmly. Absolutely nothing happened. "Legilimens" he said, this time with more force. This time he could distinctly feel that he had entered his son's mind but he was met with a deep, velvety blackness. The darkness was nearly suffocating in its power and intensity. He hurriedly pushed himself back out, gasping. "Absolutely incredible. Well, I suppose I needn't fear the old man looking into your mind. What about you, Bill? Have you ever practiced occlumency?"

"Not really, no. Tallis has given me a few pointers to make my mind a bit more difficult to break in to but I've never truly occluded my mind."

"It might behoove you to strengthen those skills. It would be prudent for all of us who know the truth to protect it through occlumency. We could always use the new spell to protect it but having the ability to occlude your mind will protect any plans that we make throughout the school year. I assume that you will be in the castle quite a bit since it is now public knowledge that you are dating my son."

Tallis blushed happily and Bill smiled. "Yes, I'm sure I will be there often. You're right, I do need to strengthen my skills. After all of the work we have done to protect you both I don't want to ruin everything by simply thinking about it in the wrong person's presence."

"Either Tallis or I can help you whenever you wish. We will also need to teach Weasley and Granger." Tallis nodded but didn't comment. He would talk to his friends later and see who they wanted to teach them. There were definite benefits with either himself or his father as a mind magics teacher. His father may be harsh but he would also never go easy on them, as Tallis would feel the urge to do. Bill picked up on this idea immediately.

"I think I'll work with Tallie a bit but once I'm better I may switch to you. I doubt that Tallis will be as hard on me as he needs to be."

Tallis tried to defend himself. "Well it is really hard to force yourself on someone that you…are dating" he finished quickly. He wasn't ready to say the word "love" yet. If either of the other men noticed the small hitch in Tallis' words they did not mention it.

"Why don't you two go work some on that. I'll start looking over the notes to see if I can come up with anything to help the potion. We can discuss everything at lunch to see where we are."

Bill and Tallis stood from the table and returned to their rooms, bringing full cups of coffee with them. They sat on the bed with Bill at the footboard and Tallis at the headboard, both preparing for their impromptu lesson. "Are you ready?" Tallis asked quietly.

"I guess so."

Tallis instantly pushed himself into his lover's mind, not even needing to use a spell. He could do many spells without a wand and the mind magics came so naturally to him that he never really needed to use his wand. Flashes of Bill's childhood flashed before him: a fight with Charlie, stealing cookies from his mum, hiding under his bed when the thunder crashed loudly above the house. Tallis pulled himself from Bill's mind.

"What am I doing wrong?"

"That wasn't bad actually. You managed to keep me focused on something of your choice rather than mine. I entered your mind trying to see you in fights. After the first memory you pulled away control. You couldn't kick me out but you pushed me toward memories that happened while you were that same age, pulling a small detail from the memory that I had chosen and using it to direct me toward other memories. A very good defense, actually. This time try to focus on protecting your memories, hiding them rather than redirecting them. I hide mine in the darkness. I believe my father hides his in a fog of some sort. Dumbledore seems to use a bloody field of wildflowers. I'm not sure that that isn't an illusion though to hide what he really uses. I've never pushed too hard since I didn't want him to know I was doing it."

"What should I use?"

"You'll need to figure that out on your own. I have a few ideas of what I think you'll end up using but I won't tell you. You need to make up your mind completely on your own or else it might not work well for you."

The two young men sat quietly for a few moments, thinking. Tallis picked up a book that was lying near the bed and started reading it while he waited for Bill to be ready to continue. Bill finally broke the silence after about twenty minutes. "Tallis? Do you think you'll ever go back?" Tallis looked up, confused. "I mean, do you think you'll ever be Harry Potter again?"

Tallis looked out of his window toward the overcast sky, thinking. After a few minutes of careful thought he looked back. "No."

"Why not?"

"I have nothing in that life. The bit that I had came with me to this life. Here I have a father and friends and a boyfriend. When I was Harry Potter I had nothing. I had friends I was scared to keep too close, a lover I was afraid to call boyfriend, and family that…" he faded off, his eyes closing in pain. "No, I have no desire to return to that existence. If I had my way I would never be Harry Potter again. I had long been planning to disappear after the war. Now I won't have to."

"Why don't we kill Harry Potter then?"

"Whether we like it or not the world sees him as a great symbol of light, a rallying point for the war. It will cause a mass panic."

"Yes, it will. But why not do it? We can do it this summer, expose some of what life was like with the muggles by having it look as if they killed him. It would cause less of a panic than if we pretended that Voldemort did it and it would expose some of what Dumbledore did. If nothing else it would shake up their faith in him a bit and make them realize how foolish they were to place such an enormous weight on a child."

"Yes but if there was a trial then we would be exposed again. Dumbledore could simply testify that I was really Harry Potter and then everything would be lost."

"Hear me out though. We have been really careful to cover everything up. Your father is even working on the potions to mask your signature and disguise your scar. By the time we are through with you and we have all of the students spelled we will have almost a foolproof case. No one will ever be able to prove that you _are_ Harry Potter with either physical evidence or magical evidence. All evidence they _can_ get will point to the fact that you are not. Your signatures will be different. You seem to be older. You look incredibly different, not to mention your tattoos. Dumbledore will look insane if he tries to assert that you are the same person.

"I mean, look at how fantastic the whole thing sounds. Lily Evans carried Severus Snape's love child while married to James Potter, a man that the world loved for his unwavering devotion to the light? Lily made a glamour so strong that it lasted for _seventeen years_? You discover your Snape heritage and happily chuck it all in order to be close to your Death Eater dad? Please, it all sounds completely impossible and too far fetched to be more than a bedtime story."

"But what about presenting a memory as evidence? His memory of my father and I where he told us that we were related? Or the memory of my mum telling him she was pregnant with me?"

"Memories are inadmissible in court. Every memory is colored slightly by the person who saw it so no memory is pure fact. He wouldn't even be allowed to show it, much less use it as evidence. I suppose veritaserum could always expose it though."

"Not really. Veritsaserum forces the user to tell what they believe to be the truth. If he truly was insane it wouldn't matter."

"Let's do it then. We'll get rid of the Dursleys, Dumbledore and Harry Potter all at once. You'll be completely free."

Tallis thought about this for a moment. "Do we really want to kill Harry Potter now, before school starts? That might get rid of Dumbledore immediately and I'm not entirely certain that we want to do that." Bill started to object but was quiet when he heard Tallis' reasoning. "As much as I dislike him and the way that he operates we need him to keep leading the Order of the Phoenix. If he is dragged away to Azkaban before school even starts then the Order will collapse into chaos and probably disband. We need them to fight Voldemort."

"Yes, I see" Bill said, deflating. "And it's not likely that they will jump at the chance to follow your leadership, either, since they won't know that you are Harry Potter, well, apart from my family at least." Bill sighed deeply. Well, it had seemed like a good plan.

"Let's keep thinking about it some and tell the others so that they can be giving it their thoughts as well. I believe it may be a good idea someday but I'm just not certain that this is the time, unless someone can come up with a way to keep everything else from falling apart." Bill nodded. He did tend to rush into things before giving them enough thought. It was a good thing that Tallis had a bit of a Slytherin side to balance him out.

"You ready to try again? Did you come up with what you will hide your memories in?"

"I think so. I was planning on—"

"No, don't tell me. Let me see if you can use it strongly enough that I can discover it on my own."

Bill nodded and got ready. "Ok, ready when you are."

Tallis once again pushed his mind into Bill's. This time he was met for a moment by what seemed to be a tunnel but it faded almost instantly into Bill's memory of seeing Ginny for the first time after she was born. Tallis pulled out after viewing the memory. "That was a beautiful memory." Bill smiled. "You're using a tunnel…a Gringotts tunnel if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes. Those things are damn confusing even if you do know where you are going. If you get lost you could be lost for days without ever finding a way out. They all look the same so it is impossible to have landmarks of any kind to help you and they are numbered randomly so you can't just follow the numbers to get out. It seemed like a good idea. And memories that need much protection can be locked behind vault doors."

"A good plan. Keep working on your image. Start to sift through your memories for a few hours each day, setting aside those that you know right now need to be locked up. It sounds like an impossible task but trust me, the memories that you don't want anyone to ever see will come to the forefront of your mind almost automatically when you start to give it some thought. Go ahead and lock those up tight. The longer you work on it the more you will run out of those kinds of memories and be left with everyday memories that you don't care about anyone knowing. When you get to that stage, let me know."

-

Coming up: Tallis tests his magical power and administers the spell on the first student! Review!


	27. Focus Stones and Secrecy Spells

A/N: Rather a lot happens in this chapter but I wanted to get the boys to Hogwarts sometime this century. Hope I didn't leave anything vital out. Thanks again for all of the reviews. You all help me immensely. I received yet another one that unknowingly mentioned something I had left out. You have all my gratitude, lovely reviewers. Enjoy! 

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Chapter 27 

Tallis stretched to ease his aching muscles. He had no idea that coming into his inheritance would be so exhausting. The additional power thrummed through his body, almost singing in happiness. His father wanted to test his new strength this morning to compare it with the test they had done a few weeks ago. Tallis could already feel that his magical strength had increased exponentially. He personally didn't feel the need to know exactly how strong he was but his friends and father did so he acquiesced.

His thoughts flitted for a moment to yesterday's events. Yesterday had been the first time he had ever gotten to celebrate his birthday with cake and presents and friends all at the same time. It had been wonderful. They had put all heavier concerns aside for the day, even suspending his Slytherin lessons for once. He and Severus had decided to limit their small party to only Bill, Ron and Hermione. Even that was much more than Tallis had ever before imagined getting. They spent the day playing games, swimming, and eating ridiculous amounts of sweets. Even his father had joined in the festivities, donning an old fashioned swimming suit and racing with them.

The fun had quickly ended though when early in the evening he was suddenly nearly knocked out by a sudden influx of power. He completely lost control over himself and ended up burning out the sitting room to a blackened mess. Luckily, everyone had been sitting relatively close to each other and they had been able to set up quick barriers around themselves. It took all four of them to hold the shaky shield and save themselves from the destruction that raged around them. He had finally lost consciousness completely after a few minutes and his father had carried him upstairs to his bedroom.

Tallis shook himself back to the present and he stepped closer to the focus stone. It was a small, completely black piece of onyx that had runes carved into the glassy surface. He looked up nervously at his father who stared back, projecting calm reassurance. All he needed to do was aim a spell at the stone. The stone would read the strength of the spell and then change color according to the power. Tallis hesitantly raised his hands to the stone and uttered the first spell that came to mind. "Expelliarmus" he said softly.

The stone started rapidly shifting through the spectrum of colors before it began to emit a blinding ray of light and then simply exploded. Tallis quickly shielded his face with his hands to block the small pieces of flying onyx. When it was clear that there was no more danger he turned to his father and friends. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…I don't know what happened," he said desperately. He knew that focus stones were rare and he had just destroyed his father's. He was terrified.

"It is alright, Tallis. You couldn't have known. I've never seen anything like that happen before. Are you alright?" Severus asked, concerned for his son.

Tallis nodded shakily. "It turned white before it blew up" Hermione said quietly. "That's the most powerful color, isn't it?" Bill and Severus nodded. They all knew the implications of that. Tallis was stronger than the ancient stone was capable of measuring. They all hesitated to use the words all-powerful, even in their minds, but they knew that Tallis was amazingly strong—stronger than anyone had ever imagined.

Tallis was clearly still shaken. "I'm sorry Father, I didn't mean to."

"It is nothing, Tallis. Don't worry about it. We will though, need to make certain that you have control over the power of your spells before you use them on another human. That kind of power can be very dangerous if you aren't careful."

Tallis nodded slowly. Merlin, he was a danger. He had almost killed everyone he cared about last night and today he had discovered that he couldn't even cast simple spells safely. Bill immediately realized what Tallis was thinking and rushed to reassure him. "Don't worry, love. I'm sure it will only take a few days for you to readjust to your new power level. We'll all help you and you'll be ready to use your spells on other students before you know it." Bill pulled his small lover into his arms to comfort him. He knew that Tallis was, once again, blaming himself for things he had no control over.

"I'm bloody starved. Can we get some breakfast around here?" Ron said suddenly, trying to distract his friend from his dark thoughts before it got too out of hand.

Tallis smiled, albeit weakly. "You're always starving Ron. Let's go see if the elves are finished with breakfast yet." Everyone filed out of the study and onto the balcony. They were all talking lightly about the festivities of the day before but each was internally counting down the days that they had until school was in session again. They had exactly one month in which to get Tallis' powers completely under control, finish the signature altering potion, spell all of the students and any parents who were brought into the lie, fabricate false memories for those who did not consent, and get ready for the upcoming school year. Time was quickly drawing short.

After a quick breakfast Tallis and his father withdrew to a small room in the bottom floor of the manor to try to get a bit of control over his spellwork. They emerged nine hours later dripping with sweat and supporting each other's exhausted bodies but evidently they had made great progress. Neither really had the strength to say anything to their houseguests and they simply went upstairs and collapsed into their beds.

The next few days passed similarly. Ron and Hermione had been invited to remain at the manor for the rest of the holiday. Both had happily packed their trunks and moved in to their bedrooms at the manor, pleased to stay so close to their friend and each other, although neither would admit their attraction yet. They knew that even with their new plan that would allow them to be near Tallis during the school year that they would still be separated often. They could no longer spend every waking moment together without arousing suspicion and Tallis would be extremely busy with his dual apprenticeship.

Ron and Hermione were put to work studying the will as closely as possible. Upon their first reading of it, none of them could find any reason for Dumbledore to have every withheld it from Tallis. Yes, it deprived him of money, but was that really the only incentive, considering that he still had a vault full of gold at his disposal? As of yet, neither of them had found any reason for Dumbledore to have hidden the information. As puzzling as that was though, they still couldn't figure out a reason for Dumbledore to have kept Tallis and Severus apart for seventeen years. They were beginning to fear that Dumbledore was insane, and simply moving people around and manipulating them for his own perverse amusement. Severus, though, refused to leave the old man such an easy cop out as insanity and insisted that there was something that he had specifically wanted to keep his son from discovering.

It was Bill's duty to fabricate the memories that they would implant in the students who would not agree to their scheme. They didn't need many, just enough that none of them could ever say with certainty that Tallis did _not_ go to school with them. Fabricating memories was incredibly difficult and detailed work: a good task for the curse breaker since he was accustomed to focusing on tiny details and working through intricate problems. He created a total of fifteen memories, assuming that most students would receive an average of five or six. They didn't want everyone having the exact same few memories of Tallis or else it would look odd, inviting further study from anyone who was suspicious.

Each memory was based on something that Bill or one of the others had seen Tallis say or do. It was then wiped of any and all references that could expose the deception. Some memories could probably not be defined as memories at all. They were simple images, such as Tallis sitting at a table doing homework, that could be imbedded in an already existing memory for some students. Severus could sift through the student's mind in search of an appropriate memory and then they would simply insert Tallis' figure into the existing memory.

For the more complete memories Bill had to travel to Veyle Academy in search of background information that he could later manipulate. He needed everything from a visual memory of what classrooms looked like to exactly what a certain teacher looked and sounded like. The fully formed memories were often simple things such as Tallis answering a question in class or seeing Tallis flying on his broom near the school. Bill worked tirelessly, making certain that the memories held true from all angles, even when removed and examined in a pensieve.

After four days of exhausting work Tallis and Severus emerged from the small, nearly destroyed room victorious. Tallis was again completely under control and he was no longer in danger of killing someone with something as simple as an overly strong Petrificus Totalis. They all celebrated that night rather wildly with endless bottles of champagne and a rousing game of "How I would Kill Voldemort." Ron won with his plan that involved a voodoo doll, a bit of twine and a virgin sacrifice (although no one could exactly figure out how a gorgeous woman would help him kill the Dark Lord). Even Severus participated, much to the delight of his son.

The day had finally come for Tallis to meet the first of the students and apply the spell to them and any parents who would know the secret. He had long debated within himself whether or not he should tell the students the entire truth or if he should simply imply that he was just an intensely private individual who wanted to protect his past from prying eyes. He finally decided to reveal the information whenever he felt justified in doing so. His father would be at his side the entire time and planned to use a low level of legilimency throughout the interviews. He could help him decide who deserved to know the truth and who would be better served knowing only part of it. Some people, after all, would actually prefer not knowing everything.

A young girl with reddish brown hair and sparkling brown eyes stepped into the room followed by her mother, a woman who was clearly a close relative of Molly Weasley. For the Weasley interviews Bill had elected to be present to reassure his family members of what was happening. "What exactly is going on here, Bill?" The woman asked.

"Mary, this is my boyfriend, Tallis Snape and his father, Professor Severus Snape. Snapes, this is Mary Wright and her daughter Anna." Bill turned back to his aunt. "We need your help with something, Auntie. It is very important…please, please listen to everything before you make up your mind." Bill had faith that his aunt would be on their side. Voldemort had murdered her husband many years ago, shortly after Anna had been born. Their families had been very close ever since, with Bill's family helping to take care of the bereaved mother and baby.

Mary nodded and sat down, pulling her daughter to sit by her side on the sofa. Tallis sat down beside Bill and Severus stood behind them, clearly nervous. No one knew who should start…their story was so wild and they needed the help so desperately they were uncertain where exactly to begin the unlikely tale. Tallis decided that he should begin the explanation. He cleared his throat and leaned forward, looking closely at Mary and her daughter.

"I am actually the one who needs your help. Up until the beginning of this summer I was an orphan. My parents were murdered by Voldemort and I had been sent to live with my muggle relatives." Mary clucked with pity. So many families had been pulled apart by You Know Who. Tallis continued. "At the beginning of this summer though, Albus Dumbledore revealed something to us. He had evidently long known that Severus Snape was my birth father but had kept the information to himself, instead placing me with muggles who feared and hated magic."

Mary looked shocked at this revelation. She didn't know Dumbledore personally but she was shocked that he would do such a thing to anyone, much less a poor orphan who was clearly disliked by his caretakers. She had always been a bit wary of him though. She believed that he had too much social and political power for a simple headmaster of a school. A school headmaster had no business in politics, especially at the level that she knew Albus Dumbledore was involved.

"Dumbledore removed the glamour that my mother had placed on me to disguise who my true father was, revealing my current appearance. My father and I wish to protect my past from the world and to begin my life anew as his son. I recently passed my NEWTs and am scheduled to begin an apprenticeship at Hogwarts in the fall. I need to fill the currently empty past life of Tallis Snape with something to convince people that I did not simply appear out of nowhere though. That is where your daughter comes in." Mary looked down at her daughter, seemingly just now remembering her presence.

"You want us to lie and claim that you were schooled at Veyle Academy?" Severus raised an eyebrow. She was certainly clever. She had also said the words as a statement of fact, not a true question. There was no horror or disgust at the request that she and her daughter lie. Maybe this would be easier than he had thought.

"Yes," Tallis said candidly. "I need to have people who can vouch for knowing me over the past few years."

"If we are to agree to do this, I need to know exactly who we are protecting. Who were you before you learned of your connection to the Snape clan?"

Tallis took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Harry Potter" he whispered, dreading her reaction.

She looked at him closely and then immediately swung her gaze to her nephew. "Is this true?"

"Yes."

"How did I never hear that you were dating Harry Potter? Surely the whole family would have known!"

"We kept it a secret. Harry…Tallis was worried that if people knew then I would become more of a target than I already was. Death Eaters already hate the Weasleys but they would attack me full force if they knew I was Harry Potter's lover."

Mary nodded her understanding. "I see. Yes, well dear, we will help you however we can, won't we Anna?" The little girl nodded firmly. She would do anything to help Harry Potter. She had grown up with bedtime stories of the Boy Who Lived and here he was asking for her help! Not to mention he might marry her cousin and then they would be related! She was delighted and immediately started planning the wedding in her mind, starring herself, of course, as an attendant.

Severus snorted when he picked up her train of thought but quickly recovered his composure. He finally spoke up. "For your protection, madam, we have developed a potion and a spell that will prevent you from telling the secret and will protect your mind from invasion through Legilimency or truth serums. We would like to administer it to you and your daughter both."

"What exactly will it do?" Mary asked, suddenly a bit more cautious.

Tallis was slightly more diplomatic than his father and decided to intervene. He could just imagine his father confusing the poor woman even more by going into a detailed lecture of the potion theory. He skipped straight to layman's terms. "It will do just as my father said. It promotes illusion and dream or stories rather than the hard truth. If someone were to ask your daughter if Tallis Snape went to school with her she would be able to answer in all honesty that yes, he did. It will not, in any way, meddle with her mind or alter her reality. She will know, even as she says the words that it is not true.

"I know that it sounds like mind control but in truth it is closer to a stimulant to help you do what you already want to do—protect me by telling people that you have known me for years. It truly works more as a way to help you keep a secret than as a way to prevent you from telling the truth. It will not work if either of you does not truly want to protect me.

"More importantly though, it will protect you from any who would seek to find the truth. We do not anticipate anyone ever coming to any of you to even ask about me but we wished to help protect you after you have done so much to protect us. This potion and spell will protect you from anyone who tried to pull the truth from your mind. More, it will not only conceal the truth but it will also protect your mind itself. Legilimency can be a good and useful thing but it can also be a dangerous and debilitating tool when abused. This will protect you from anyone who sought to rip the truth from you regardless of how it may cripple your mind in the process. This potion and spell will keep your mind completely safe from harm."

"Will the spell ever be lifted?"

"In time, perhaps" Severus said. "I do not wish to lie to you madam. There is a great possibility that my son will never wish for the truth to be revealed. His life as Harry Potter was never easy and we are both happy with the way that things are now. Neither of us wishes for a return to the way that things were."

Mary nodded. She understood that. Molly was her best friend as well as her sister and they kept few secrets from each other. She had heard long ago from Molly that Severus was a spy for the light and she knew that his life had been hard. From the tiny hints that Molly had dropped about Harry's life she knew that he had not had it easy either. She looked over at Tallis, searching his eyes for an answer. "If we do this, if we help you to hide, will you still kill Voldemort?"

"Yes" he said firmly. "That is my destiny, I have long realized that. I do not seek to escape it. I only want a chance to live free from the weight that was on my shoulders since I entered the wizarding world simply for bearing his mark. I want a chance to be with my father and to actually live a normal life. I promise you though, that when the time comes, I will kill him."

Mary nodded firmly as did little Anna. "We'll do it. Please go ahead with your spell or potion or whatever it is."

Severus gave her a rare smile. "This should only take a moment and it will not hurt at all." He passed them both vials of the apricot colored potion and waited for them to drink it. Tallis stood up and placed his hands on Mary's temples, looking into her eyes. He hissed in parseltongue, activating the protection. Mary flinched momentarily when he started hissing but quickly regained control. She had long known that he was a parselmouth but it still surprised her to hear the snake language spoken. The words that he was hissing were the items that needed to be protected: namely the fact that Tallis Snape had just been discovered, that he had never attended Veyle Academy and that he was also Harry Potter.

When he was finished Tallis turned to Anna and repeated the process. She looked up at him in wonder, amazed at his abilities. When he had finished with her as well he stood back. Bill turned to his aunt. "Does Tallis Snape attend school with your daughter?"

"He did. He graduated last year" she said and then gasped lightly. "It worked! It is wonderful. Thank you for this. I understand now what you meant about the potion. We will stay for a while longer if you need any reassurance for the others about what the potion really does. Even after you described it the spell sounded too much like mind control for me to be completely comfortable with it but I decided to trust you, dear. If you have any problems with any others just call me back in and I'll explain what it is like to them. Good luck, Tallis, and you too dear" she said as she reached up to kiss Bill on the cheek.

"Miss Wright, I must check you as well to be safe. Do you know Tallis Snape?" Severus asked the little girl.

"Oh yes, he went to school with me last year." The little girl was clearly delighted with how the spell worked. She hugged her cousin and then waved goodbye to Tallis and Severus.

"Well, that's one down. Only twenty-one more interviews to go" Tallis said lightly as he took his seat once again, ready for the next interview.


	28. The Hogwarts Express

A/N: I've had a few reports of finding Tallis as a girl's name and, well…I'm not entirely certain what to say. The only time I have ever heard of the name (prepare for embarrassing confession from an English grad student who should only be reading Literature with a capital 'L' and all that crap) was when I was reading a romance novel a few years ago. While the book itself was about as good as any romance novel I fell in love with the name of the (decidedly male) protagonist. Guess I need to do a bit more research than the romance writer evidently did. Let's pretend it is a boy's name for our story…or at least a unisex name. Damn it, I still love it for a boy. 

-

Chapter 28 

"Are you all packed and ready for school?" Severus asked the students who stood in a row in front of him. That morning had seen the usual insanity of last minute packing. This was Severus' first time witnessing it though and while he had initially found their chaos irritating his irritation quickly gave way to humor. He himself had always been so organized as a child that he had never had the mad dash to get ready for school that his son and friends evidently always had.

Somehow, all of their belongings had floated equally between their three rooms, mixing their things up into a complete mess. Even Bill's and some of Severus' items had joined in the fray (although Severus had absolutely no idea how _his_ things had wound up scattered through the Gryffindor rooms). The students had to be more careful than usual this year to sort everything out since they were no longer all living in the Tower. Before, they would just pack everything into whatever trunk was closest, sorting it out once they reached Hogwarts.

This year though they couldn't do that and had to make certain that all of Tallis' belongings were safely locked in his trunk. They also had to securely lock away anything that obviously belonged to Harry Potter, including his beloved photo album which had to remain behind at the manor. The cloak was given to Ron for safekeeping. No one would find that odd since few knew of the cloak and those who did know were fully aware that the trio shared everything that they had between them.

Three smiling faces looked up at Severus. "Yup. All ready sir" Ron said. He was, for once, happy to be returning to school. This was their last year there and he was getting closer to declaring his love for Hermione and his best friend was finally safe and happy. He was also no longer hated by the potions master. He no longer took potions but it still felt good to know that Snape would no longer be seeking him out to take away points or assign detentions or just generally belittle him.

Severus had a brief conversation with both Hermione and Ron about his past treatment of him. They both understood that much of his behavior had been necessary to convince others that he was a true Death Eater. Severus did acknowledge that he took it overboard at times and he conceded that the possibility _might_ exist that he should have told them what was really going on earlier. While this might not have been enough for Ron a few months ago he had learned that it was best simply to set the past aside as Tallis and Severus had done for their own relationship. Sometimes it was easier to simply begin anew, and Ron preferred to see his friend's father as a completely separate person from the greasy git. He also knew that the conversation had been insanely difficult for his surly professor and that he only did it because he wanted to be on good terms with his son's best friends. Ron could see now though that Severus Snape _was_ a good man, regardless of how prickly his exterior was.

Severus rolled his eyes. Ah, the exuberance of youth. "Here is your portkey. It will drop you outside the Burrow and Molly and Arthur will take you from there with an Order supplied portkey. Please double check that the potion was effective on both of them before you leave. Quickly now, where is Harry Potter?"

"I believe he is going somewhere to train but I was not told where" Hermione promptly replied.

"And when did you meet Tallis Snape for the first time?"

"About two years ago when Bill brought him home for Sunday dinner," Ron said automatically. The Weasley family potion had to be a bit more complex than that given to the others since they needed to convincingly tell others that they had known Tallis quite well for two years. They also needed to be warded against letting anything slip that could possibly link Harry Potter to Tallis. Since they knew Harry so well that was quite a lot to protect.

"Alright, you are free to go. Please be aware of your surroundings at all times."

Tallis gave his friends quick hugs. Both were pleased that Tallis had come such a long way that summer. He never would have voluntarily hugged them before this summer. He might have reluctantly accepted a hug from Hermione but nothing could have made him hug Ron back then, no matter how much he trusted him. His father and friends had worked hard with him, making him more accepting of casual touch. He was finally able to repress his instinctual response and realize that not all touch was going to result in pain. Ron and Hermione blinked out of sight as the portkey activated.

"Are you sure you are ready for this Tallis?" Severus asked his son. He knew that the ride on the train would be overwhelming for his son who would no longer have Ron and Hermione at his side to act as buffers. Tallis was in a strange position as both student and teacher. Dumbledore had "requested" that Tallis ride the train to school and Severus had finally acquiesced, knowing it was better to lose a small battle in order to win some of the more important issues later. Tallis took a deep breath and nodded. The two stepped over to the fireplace to floo to the drop off point in King's Cross. Not many people were allowed to use the floo since it would be too dangerous to let everyone know of it but professors were given full rights to use it as needed.

Tallis stepped into the fire and was pulled away to the station, soon to be followed by his father. Tallis brushed the soot from his beautiful emerald green robes and stepped aside for his father to come through. Everyone on the platform turned to stare at the two Snapes, clearly shocked regardless of the pictures that had been run in the paper. Quiet murmuring could be heard all around as speculation flew. Severus and Tallis stood apart, talking quietly together as the students gossiped blatantly about the new Snape.

Ron and Hermione finally appeared with Ginny, Molly and Arthur in tow. They all greeted the Snapes courteously but did not linger too long, according to their plan. Molly smiled happily at Tallis and gave him a quick hug and kiss in greeting before ushering her children and Hermione onto the train. A few students looked shocked to see Harry Potter's close friends so obviously friendly with the Head of Slytherin and his son. They had already seen the pictures and read the article but it still seemed a bit surreal. Evidently the small, beautiful boy really was dating Bill Weasley, judging from Mrs. Weasley's friendly greeting. It was almost too much for them to comprehend—a union between a family of the strongest Gryffindor sensibilities and a family that practically oozed Slytherin.

Draco Malfoy entered the platform with his mother. Narcissa gave a demure smile to her friend Severus and the two walked over to greet the Snapes. Draco was shocked when he had heard that his godfather had a son that he had never told him about but he was certain that he would learn more when they were somewhere that they could talk. He studied Tallis closely for a moment and then held out his hand in greeting.

Tallis took his hand and looked up at Draco smiling hesitantly. "It is nice to meet you, Draco," he said softly.

Draco smiled back. "It is nice to _finally_ meet you too," he said, clearly slightly bitter that he had not been let in on the secret existence of his godfather's son earlier. Evidently all of his ire was directed to his godfather though and not at Tallis because he quickly warmed up to the smaller young man. "Let's go find a compartment on the train, Tallis. It will be full soon." Tallis turned to his father for a moment but did not say anything. They communicated briefly with their eyes, one searching for strength and the other giving it freely. Tallis nodded and turned back to Draco, ready to enter the train.

Draco walked by the small Snape, trying to find an empty compartment. They finally found one in the middle of the train and immediately settled into it. "Where did you go to school before this?"

"Veyle Academy" Tallis said rather shortly but not unkindly.

"Did you like it there?"

"It was nice. Very small but we got to move more quickly because of it. Do you like it at Hogwarts?" Tallis said to change the subject, not wanting to linger on the discussion of his "old" school. He knew that if he lingered too long he would be forced to elaborate and if the more he talked about it the easier it would be to catch him in a lie.

"It is ok. I'm a Slytherin and the school doesn't like us very much."

"Why?"

"They think that we're all dark lords in training" Draco said bitterly.

Tallis smiled softly. "How strange. How are the teachers?"

"Your father is great. He's the only one who really likes us much. McGonigall isn't too bad. She teaches transfiguration and is the head of Gryffindor, surprisingly. Gryffindors especially tend to hate us. I guess Professor Vector isn't terrible either. Flitwick's annoying but he is talented at least and tends to ignore house prejudices. Most of the rest are incredibly prejudiced or else incompetent. Dumbledore actually has a ghost teaching History of Magic and a third year drop out for our COMC professor."

Tallis wanted to snap at Draco for referring to Hagrid in such a way but he realized that Draco was entirely correct. As much as he loved Hagrid he had no business teaching students any subject, especially one that was potentially so dangerous. He hadn't even finished a basic education, much less achieved his mastery in any field. He was actually a danger to the students, teaching them without the proper credentials. Without control of his magic he had no way of subduing the wild and typically dangerous animals that he delighted in bringing to his class. Not to mention that the students never learned the most important aspect of the class—how to subdue violent magical creatures and protect themselves from harm should they be faced with an out of control magical creature. No one really needed to know how to properly feed a blast ended skrewt but they _did_ need to know how to avoid or stop an attack by an enraged hippogriff. "That's too bad that he doesn't have better teachers—or at least more appropriate ones. I'll only really be dealing with Poppy and my Father though, thankfully. I assume that you are still taking potions?"

"Of course. I would never drop it, not while Sev was teaching it." Tallis nodded. "How did I never hear about you before now?" Draco could not get over this. He knew that his real irritation was with Severus and not Tallis but he hoped to get a bit of information out of his godfather's son. They would be brothers, of sorts. He hoped that they could be friends.

Tallis had been prepared for this. "My father wanted to shield me from the war. He figured if no one knew that he had a son then Voldemort could never ask him to bring his son in to be marked. So he kept me a secret from everyone. People at the Academy knew to try to be quiet about my presence so they didn't really talk about it much to anyone, even their parents, really."

"Who was your mother? Don't tell me that Sev's hiding a wife, too."

Again, Tallis was prepared for this. He felt a bit guilty using a poor woman's timely death for his benefit but it did work out well. She was a few years older than Severus had been friends with his at Hogwarts and had died shortly after Tallis was supposedly born. She had conveniently looked vaguely like Lily Evans, with brown hair and green eyes. More importantly though, she was a pureblood orphan herself and had been murdered by Voldemort when he found her after nearly a year and a half of hiding. There was no one alive who could possibly vouch for her whereabouts during that year and a half and no one who could possibly claim that she was not his mother. "No, no more hidden family members. My mother was Miranda Jurow."

Draco nodded, instantly understanding the need for secrecy. He had heard about the Jurow family before. They had openly sided with the light and were systematically wiped many years ago. The last remaining Jurow was killed about a year before he had been born. Evidently they now knew where she had been hiding all that time. Add to his already dangerous parentage on his mother's side his father's betrayal of the Dark Lord and Tallis was an enormous target for the Dark Lord's ire. Of course Severus had hidden him away.

Blaise and Theo knocked on the door and slid it open. "Mind if we join you?" Theo asked Tallis. Evidently he was now taking on a sort of leadership role with the Slytherins based nearly solely on who his father was. He immediately nodded and the two boys took a seat, Blaise next to Tallis and Theo across from him.

"Blaise Zabini" the dark haired boy announced, holding out his hand in greeting. 

"Tallis Snape" he said with a smile, "although clearly you already knew that."

"Theodore Nott" the other boy said, shaking his hand as well. "So, I hear that you are some kind of genius or something."

Tallis raised an eyebrow, unconsciously imitating his father and making the other boys slightly uncomfortable. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"They published your NEWT results in the paper. The article said that you had scored the highest in DADA, Potions, and Charms that they had ever seen by quite a large margin and that you matched the highest Transfiguration score, previously held by Minerva McGonigall. No one's every held the highest score in more than one category before, much less four."

Tallis blushed lightly. "I didn't know they had published anything about that. How the hell did they get that information? Shouldn't that be private?"

"Whenever a new high score is reached on an official exam the information is immediately forwarded on to the ministry and the papers. The article was published shortly after that article where they announced your existence" Draco supplied. He was marginally surprised that Tallis didn't already know this but then remembered that Sev was always a bit…eccentric. It wouldn't surprise him at all if Severus had decided that learning about testing regulations and such was unnecessary for his son. He was certain that Tallis' pureblood education had differed wildly from what the rest of them had learned. Nearly every pureblood student at Hogwarts learned the same information at around the same time from his or her parents and tutors. Likely, Tallis had received a radically different discipline than they did. He wondered what the young man had been taught under his father's tutelage.

Tallis rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not a genius, I just happened to do well that day." The boys all decided to drop the topic since Tallis was clearly not going to own up to his abilities.

"What is it like having the Professor as your father?" Blaise asked. "Does he assign you detention when you do something wrong?"

"We are very close. He's one of my best friends" Tallis said quietly in a way that no one dared to laugh at. The other boys in the compartment were not yet at the stage where it was possible to see their fathers as a friend, much less admit such a thing to others.

"I can't really imagine that. I mean, we all love the Professor but he's not exactly open or friendly or anything" Theo explained.

"Perhaps not while at school but he is very different when we are alone. I'm pleased to be able to join him this year at Hogwarts."

Ron and Hermione tapped on the door and stuck their heads in. "Hey, mate, just wanted to make sure you found someone to sit with" Ron announced, looking around the compartment at the Slytherins. He didn't smile but he didn't make a face upon discovering who Tallis was sitting with either.

"Yes, I met up with Draco on the platform and his friends joined us a while ago. Would you care to sit with us as well?"

"No thanks Tallis, we already have a compartment down the way with some other Gryffindors. We just wanted to check on you" Hermione said.

"Yeah, Bill would kill me if I left you all alone on your first trip on the Express" Ron said. "Well, you seem to be in capable hands. I'll see you at school. If you need us we are about six compartments down the way." The two Gryffindors shut the door behind them and hurried on to their compartment. The three students had decided over the summer to try to work on dispelling house rivalry at Hogwarts by promoting their friendship and even working to befriend the Slytherins. They had planned their entire encounter a week earlier, making certain that they saw the Slytherins and did not insult them or degrade them at all. They knew that friendship would be rejected immediately if they started out too strong so they settled for simple neutrality. Hopefully, this would be a good start.

Draco looked at Tallis in shock. "They…they were actually bearable! They didn't insult any of us even once!"

"Did you expect them to?" Tallis asked, feigning confusion. "I've known Ron for two years now and I know he can be a bit impulsive at times but he seems to be a nice guy. We hang out some when I'm at the Burrow with Bill and we go out occasionally without Bill when he's busy or has to be at work early. I just recently met Hermione so I don't know her well but she seems an ok sort. She's very smart."

"Why are you dating a Weasel anyway Tallis? Didn't your father tell you about them?" Nott said, never knowing when to shut up. He often spoke without thinking.

Tallis stiffened and turned his icy gaze onto Theo making him shudder. Theo had long realized that the Snape heir was powerful but he had been lulled into a sense of safety by how diminutive the young man was. Now he was immediately reminded of exactly _why_ he should fear the Snape family. "Bill Weasley is a good man, as is the rest of his family" Tallis said coldly. "If you have a problem with them then please deal with it on your own terms and do not attempt to pull me into your personal wars."

Theo nodded quickly and looked embarrassed. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just a bit surprised that you two got along so well. Snapes aren't known to like Weasleys."

Tallis nodded, showing his understanding of Theo's apology while clearly closing the topic. All further bashing of Weasleys or Gryffindors was kept quiet for the remainder of the trip. Tallis hoped that it would also be kept to a minimum while they were near him at school. He hated house rivalries and the entire house system seemed flawed to him. By breaking the students up into houses with those who had similar personalities they encouraged the segregation of the society. Students rarely sought out those in other houses who could provide a balance to their personalities and skills. They never learned to work together, helping to fill in what each other lacked, to create one whole, strong force.

"I can't believe Sev let you get a tattoo," Draco said, having noticed the Snape crest on his hand and eager to begin a new subject that wouldn't irritate Tallis. All of the rest of the artwork was covered by his long robes which fell past his wrists and his button down shirt. Surprisingly, even with the amount of pictures that were published in the paper his tattoos were always either covered up or else difficult to recognize as tattoos.

"I have a few," Tallis said, enjoying the understatement. He knew that it wouldn't be long before they discovered his other tattoos. He wasn't quite ready to reveal everything right now though.

"I wanted to get one but my Father wouldn't let me" Blaise said sadly.

"You are seventeen, aren't you?" Tallis asked with a light sneer. "Just go get one if you want it. What could he possibly do?"

"He could disinherit me."

"I am so sure your father would disinherit his only son and heir, thereby ending his branch of the family line with himself," Tallis said sarcastically. He was now insanely grateful for the hours that his father spent drilling him on pureblood family trees.

"I guess you're right. I never thought of it like that. Is that how you got the Professor to let you get yours?"

"No. I told him that I wanted another tattoo and asked if he wanted to join me. And he did. That was it," Tallis said truthfully. He was greeted by a general wide-eyed stare by all of the young men. Clearly, none of them had ever thought of doing such a thing with their own fathers. "I told you before, he's one of my best friends. Of course I invited him along. It was fun." This time mouths gaped open before the three purebloods could collect themselves enough to replace their masks. Each one was trying to envision their austere potions professor in a tattoo parlor. More, they were trying to imagine "fun" and their professor actually belonging in the same sentence.

"Will you be staying with your father then, in his rooms?" Theo asked, eager to make up for his earlier faux pas.

"Yes. I already had a room there; it has just been expanded a bit in preparation for me to permanently live there. They also made the study larger so that we could both have a desk and room for our papers. They decided to make the study our office and it has a door out into the hall as well as into our apartment, although no one can go through that door except my father and I."

None of the boys had gotten past the first bit, that Tallis already had a room in his father's apartment before this year. "You already had a room there? You mean you've slept in the castle before and no one knew about you still?"

"Yes" Tallis answered honestly. He truly had stayed in his father's dungeon suite before and he did have a room there. Granted, it had only been for one night this summer when no other students were present but he had done so nonetheless.

After a bit more idle chat Blaise excused himself to go find Lavender. Evidently their date at the end of last year had gone well as they had continued to owl over the summer. He left in a hurry to see her again, saying a quick goodbye to his friends and Tallis. It seemed as if the Slytherins were generally eager to repair relationships with the wizarding world at large, although none of them would ever admit such a thing. Many were now seeking relationships outside of their house, slowly mending their tattered image. Perhaps a true friendship between Gryffindor and Slytherin would be easier than Tallis and his friends had originally thought it would.

The three boys chatted lightly for the remainder of the trip. When they drew near to the school the Slytherins drew on their school robes. Tallis didn't need to change since as an apprentice he could wear whatever he wanted. He was dressed in expensive green robes left open over slim fitting black slacks and a black button down shirt. He ran his hands through his hair, pulling the black ribbon out and twisting it around the low ponytail again.

He was grateful for the potion that his father had made that had allowed his skin to be, well, malleable, for lack of a better word. After applying the potion Severus had been able to manipulate the scar into three separate lines and then twisted two of the lines high up into Tallis' hair. The third would not move very far for some reason but he pushed it up to the edge of his hairline, making it barely noticeable, even when seen from only a few inches away. Even if anyone _could _locate the three separated parts of the lightning bolt they would never be able to recognize it as the remnants of the famous scar. It still retained the same abilities as before, linking him occasionally with Voldemort but the episodes were few and far between.

He started to get nervous. He hoped that his father had been able to arrange everything as he had said he would. While he had been on the train his father was supposed to be in a conference with Dumbledore, discussing how Tallis would be announced. His father and the Headmaster had already had a few short conversations throughout the summer to keep up contact and keep him updated on the information that they wanted him to know. Dumbledore had supposedly supported all of their decisions. Tallis was still worried though. Everything could still fall apart.

"Nervous, Tallis?" Draco asked.

"A bit." _Although for different reasons than you think_ Tallis thought.

"Don't be. You'll do fine. And no matter what, you'll always have the support of Slytherin house. It appears that you will have a few Gryffindors to support you as well," he said with a sigh.

"You don't mind, do you? About them?"

"No. I'm not friends with them but I guess they aren't all that bad. We fight a lot but it is more to pass the time and to meet people's expectations than anything, really. You know Harry Potter, don't you?"

"Somewhat."

"We tend to fight the most. When I saw you two in the paper I was worried that he would sway you against me before I even got a chance to meet you. It seems that he didn't."

"He mentioned you but pretty much just how you did, telling me that you both fought often but that both of you enjoyed it, although neither would probably admit it to each other."

Draco raised an eyebrow at this. "I would have expected Potter to have tried to use it to his advantage, knowing you first. He is very Slytherin in many ways."

"He didn't really try anything, really. I mean he didn't stand much chance of convincing me you were evil or anything, given who my father is. Harry and I have only met a few times, anyway and I've heard about you for years. I feel as if I know you already, even if we are only now meeting. My father speaks of you often. He missed you this summer." Draco smiled at this. He had been worried that maybe Severus wouldn't want to spend time with him during the school year now that his real son was at school with him but evidently he had nothing to worry about.

The train started to empty out quickly. Tallis and Draco got into a carriage with Millie Bulstrode and a young Ravenclaw who quickly introduced themselves. The ride up to the castle was relatively quiet. Tallis was glad to have a few moments in which to calm himself down. He wasn't used to being near so many people at once, much less people who expected handshakes and other touches. He knew he just had to make it through dinner and then he could go to their rooms and relax. He just hoped he made it that far.


	29. Presenting Apprentice Snape

Chapter 29 

Tallis took a deep breath as he stood outside the Great Hall facing the large and forbidding doors. Everyone else had already entered and the first years were sorted. Now he was just waiting to be introduced. He shuddered, thinking of all the eyes that would be focused on him. He could do this though, he just had to focus on his father and walk up to the platform and sit down. _It will be ok_ he tried to reassure himself.

Suddenly he heard Dumbledore's voice clearly. He had been told that he would be aware of when it was time to enter…evidently this was what McGonigall meant when she told him that. "And now I am pleased to present to you Hogwart's first apprentice in over a hundred years. This talented young man will be serving under Mediwitch Poppy Pomfrey with the potions guidance of Professor Severus Snape. May I present to you Tallis Anthony Snape!"

The doors slowly opened and Tallis was faced with hundreds of faces staring with blatant curiosity at him. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, standing up as tall as he could as he walked down the aisle toward the head table. The Slytherins were all clapping as well as most of the other houses. Evidently being acquaintances with the Boy Who Lived had endeared him to the world in general. Figures.

The Headmaster had continued his commentary as Tallis made the long walk down the aisle, explaining what Tallis would be doing as an apprentice at Hogwarts. It had been so long since Hogwarts had an active apprentice that few students would know exactly what the young Snape's duties were or what to expect from him.

"Apprentice Snape will be instructing the first year potion students and will also teach alternate classes with Professor Snape for the second years. He will assist with the upper years on a rotating basis so all of you can expect to spend some time in the potions lab with him. He will spend most of his time, however, in the infirmary where you can expect to have him tending to your illnesses. If Madame Pomfrey releases a student to Apprentice Snape's care then you may assume that it is well within his abilities to care for and you will listen to his instruction just as you would Madame Pomfrey's. Apprentice Snape has all the powers and privileges of a full professor, including assigning detentions and giving and removing points. He can be considered to be a junior faculty member."

He finally reached his father's side and sat gratefully between him and Poppy. He was shaking lightly from all of the undivided attention and Severus put a reassuring hand on his arm to comfort and help to ground him. When everyone quieted again Dumbledore proceeded with his announcements. "I am also pleased to reintroduce to you Professor Remus Lupin who is returning once again to fulfill the Defense Against the Dark Arts post." This time the applause was nearly wild from the Gryffindors. Applause was more moderate from the other houses and rather scattered from Slytherin although a surprising amount of them seemed pleased that he had returned. Dumbledore made a quick explanation of the rotating core of professors who would fill in for Professor Lupin during the full moon.

"I would also wish to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is strictly off limits. We will also be imposing a harsher penalty than in previous years for curfew violations for your own protection. It is very important that your Head of House always be capable of finding you. We are keeping track of your whereabouts for your own safety." Tallis thought the entire thing sounded a bit creepy but shrugged his discomfort aside. It was one thing to want students in their beds at night; it was a completely different thing to _always_ want to know where each student is and what they are doing. "Visits to Hogsmeade will be limited and heavily chaperoned. You will learn of each visit on the day that it will occur in order to protect your safety. Although the war activity has calmed in the past few months we will not let down out guard until we are certain that it is safe to do so.

"Argus Filch has now added the entirety of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes to his list of forbidden items. If you feel the need to check the list you may find a copy of it in his office or simply consult a WWW catalogue. Additional restrictions will be announced as they are determined.

"I am sad to announce that we felt it necessary for Harry Potter to be removed from Hogwarts for his seventh year." Tallis and Severus both felt the urge to sneer at the way that the Headmaster worded this. It sounded as though he played a much more important role in Harry's life than he truly did. Frankly, the Headmaster was given no say in the matter at all. Severus had simply told him what they were doing and demanded that he comply. The Headmaster had evidently decided that he might owe the Snape men a favor or two after his manipulations and so he had not argued at all. His compliance was fortunate for him since had he chosen to fight at all both Snapes would have fought back a lot harder and a lot longer than he ever could. The Headmaster no doubt thought that he had almost paid them back completely for all that he had cost them. The Snapes knew that his compliance barely touched the debt that he owed them.

Tallis started listening to the Headmaster's speech again. "Harry has been moved to a private training facility in order to prepare him for his role in the war. He needs to learn things that are not taught here in the general curriculum. He will undoubtedly miss all of you very much but we must ask that you do not attempt to contact him in any way as all of his correspondence is screened most stringently by the Hogwarts staff before the appropriate mail is sent on to Harry. I am certain that he would be grateful for your support and loving thoughts."

The students sat still in their seats, shocked by the revelation. Harry Potter would not be returning to Hogwarts! Silence filled the hall as the students were evidently too stunned to even gossip about it. Panic seemed to take over some of the students who saw this as a sign that they should flee Hogwarts as well. If the school wasn't safe for Harry Potter then it wasn't safe for anyone!

"For now though, welcome back to another year at Hogwarts and enjoy your meal!" Tallis could barely hold in his snort of derision at this. Only Dumbledore would end such a heavy speech with such a trite statement, offering no comfort to the clearly panicked students.

The students started piling their plates high with the wonderful food, beginning the Hogwarts gossip chain just as eagerly. Students loudly debated exactly where the Boy Who Lived had gone. A note of hysteria tinged many students voices, particularly the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Many other students, especially the Slytherins (who didn't care much about Harry Potter, or at least preferred to project indifference while in public) and many Ravenclaws (who knew that nothing would come of idle conjecture on what was clearly confidential information), ignored that topic and instead focused on a much more interesting topic: Tallis Snape.

Tallis could finally breathe freely again now that much of the attention had been pulled away from the head table. He started to calm down, his trembles ceasing nearly entirely. Severus realized how stressed his son was and tried to keep him busy speaking with himself and Poppy so that he wouldn't have the added stress of making conversation with the other professors around them. He knew that after dinner he would have to make a round of introductions and he only hoped that Tallis could pull himself together long enough to make it through the requisite social niceties.

Severus noticed the hungry looks his son was getting from some of the young men as well as a few young women. He glared them all back to their meals. Honestly, the world knew his son was already dating someone, could they not leave him well enough alone? At least Tallis hadn't noticed anything. He could only imagine what his son's reaction would have been if he had noticed the rather wolfish grins on some of the older boys' faces when he had entered.

Tallis conversed quietly with Poppy, discussing his new books and some of the reading he had already completed and making plans for the upcoming week. It was agreed that Tallis should help his father ready the potions lab rather than help Poppy with the Infirmary. The potions labs were largely dismantled at the end of each year in order to have the equipment serviced and the stocks refreshed and replenished but the Infirmary was always kept up and running. The Infirmary had the necessary modifications and servicing done sporadically throughout the entire year in order to be ready to help the students and Order members who may need medical assistance at any time. There simply wasn't as much work to be done there as there was in the dungeons.

Poppy had also arranged a small bedroom for Tallis off of the Infirmary wing for when he needed to stay overnight to watch over a patient. Evidently while he had been on the train she had gotten together with his father to schedule his time in the potions lab. He would teach his first class on Monday at ten a.m. Tallis looked nervous at this but his father reassured him that he was more than ready. Since he would be mostly following his father's syllabus he didn't need to prepare very heavily for classes.

Tallis looked out over the hall quickly to discreetly check on his friends. Ron and Hermione were being bombarded by the Gryffindors for information on Harry Potter's whereabouts. Students from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw table eagerly listened in, spreading any bit of gossip that they could glean from the Gryffindors further down their tables.

The Slytherins had all turned inward, talking quietly among themselves. Draco looked slightly unsettled still, something that was rare in the young man who was known so much for the icy exterior that he always showed. It was clear that no one knew what was going on and everyone wanted more information. Tallis could only imagine what the rumor mills would have created by the next morning in lieu of any real information.

Dinner was over entirely too quickly for Tallis' tastes who knew that he needed to greet the other professors. He stood reluctantly by his father's side, plastering a smile on his face, waiting to properly meet everyone. Professor McGonigall was first to come to them, reintroducing herself. Tallis quickly shook everyone's hands and politely introduced himself and made a bit of small talk while never straying more than a few feet from his father's side.

Remus Lupin soon came up to be introduced. He looked at Tallis curiously. He could smell something…familiar about the boy but he couldn't place it. Tallis had been debating whether or not he would tell Remus the truth and he decided that when it was possible, he would do so. Remus looked so sad and tired. He had lost quite a lot in the past twenty years. He had lost more than he had realized, actually, since he had struggled through pain and hardship needlessly while the gold left to him by his friends rotted in Gringotts. The money couldn't buy him his friends' lives back but it could have spared him the years of struggling to scrape together a few pennies to live on. Tallis decided that he would do what he could for Remus, the last true friend that his mum and James had, regardless of how uncomfortable he was around the man.

As soon as they could conceivably leave though, Severus pulled him away from the eager group, claiming that they needed to unpack and begin preparing the classroom. Although they would have all day tomorrow to ready everything (it was only Saturday evening and classes started Monday) everyone accepted their excuses and drifted away.

Severus led his son down to their dungeon rooms by back hallways, avoiding any other run-ins with students or professors. Once inside Tallis was able to let down his carefully constructed façade and show how overwhelmed he was. Severus led his trembling son to the sofa and helped him to sit down. "Can I get you anything, Tallis?" His son shook his head in the negative. Severus sighed and sat down close to his son but not touching him, allowing Tallis to determine when he was ready for that. Part of what made today so overwhelming for his son was the fact that _he_ couldn't decide when to touch and when not to touch someone. Much of it was decided by chance or demanded by society and control was incredibly important to the young man who had been deprived of control for so long. After a few minutes Tallis leaned into his father's warmth, taking comfort in his familiar presence. Severus wrapped his arms around the small boy, helping him to acclimate himself to his surroundings.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. Tallis looked up, surprised. "That must be Draco" Severus said apologetically. "He always comes by on our first night here. You may retire to your room if you wish to avoid another confrontation with someone but I cannot turn him away."

Tallis nodded. "I'll be fine, I think. I feel better now. I can deal with one or two new people I just couldn't handle them all. They were all staring at me and touching me…" he shuddered one more time and then moved over to curl up in an armchair, thus limiting any potential touch since no one could sit next to him. "I'm fine, as long as you don't mind me here. If you want to be alone with him I can leave."

"No, no, I just wanted you to be comfortable." Severus reassured his son as he stood to let his godson in.

Draco stepped into the apartment, immediately hugging his godfather, which Severus always secretly enjoyed, although he would never admit it. "I haven't seen you in forever. Are you all right? Father wouldn't tell me anything, just that you were discovered as a spy. What happened?"

Severus led him further into the sitting room and Draco quickly greeted Tallis and sat on the sofa. "Well?" he asked expectantly when Severus did not immediately start answering his questions.

"I am perfectly well, Draco. Honestly, they didn't do terribly much when they discovered me. The Dark Lord went on a rather lengthy rant about betraying your blood and heritage which proved to be thoroughly distracting. Before too many curses had hit me I was able to take my portkey out of the chamber. I remained at Hogwarts for a week and then returned to the manor with my son for the rest of the summer."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about him?" Draco asked petulantly.

Severus sighed. "I couldn't be sure it was safe, Draco. I needed to keep Tallis safe, especially knowing who his mother was." Draco nodded. The Dark Lord _was_ rather obsessed with wiping out the Jurow family. "I believed that you would protect my secret but I couldn't be sure. You were so young then and that is a hell of a burden to place on you. I had planned to tell you this summer, regardless of what happened with my role in the Dark Lord's circle but clearly, you saw how the summer played out. I am sorry you had to learn it from the papers."

Draco nodded but changed to subject to something he was far more worried about. "Father is growing impatient. He tried to force me to take the mark this summer. I resisted and told him that I had heard that Dumbledore would be checking us for the mark when we returned at the beginning of the year and so I would take the mark the next time I came home. I can't leave the castle again."

"I'm sorry," Tallis said softly. "We'll be here most of the time as well though, since Father is in danger too. Our day out in Diagon Alley was probably the last such time we can do something like that. We can at least all be together."

"That's true. I'm ashamed to say this but I am glad that you were discovered, Sev. At least I won't be alone here."

The three sat up chatting for a while longer before Tallis decided to retire to his bedroom. Draco and Severus stayed up for a while longer. "So every time I've stayed with you I've been in _his_ room, haven't I?" Draco asked, clearly a bit jealous no matter how much he tried not to be.

"The room here is his room, yes," Severus said calmly. "You never stayed in his room at the manor though. Draco, I am sorry for withholding such information from you but I needed to do it. I have always loved you dearly. You are like another son to me and nothing will change that."

"I know. I'm sorry, it…it's just been a long summer is all." Severus nodded in understanding.

"How do the new first years seem?"

"Scared, for the most part. It is not a good time to be joining Slytherin house. There don't seem to be any true supporters. A few have families that seem loyal but the kids themselves seem rather indifferent, if not outright opposed to His rule. Some are nervous though, from this news about Potter."

"There is nothing to worry about. He will appear again when the time comes. He will fight Voldemort and I am certain that he will prevail."

"You think he can do it?"

"I am nearly certain. If he cannot, then gods protect us. We will have no other chance."

Draco nodded, subdued as he thought about their situation in the war. Severus continued. "And the upperclassmen? Have any of them changed their allegiance?"

"About the same as last year. No one really wants to follow Him. Many of the seventh years had to work hard to keep from being marked and are scared to leave the school again, even to go to Hogsmeade."

"I tried to explain as much to the Headmaster and get him to cancel all Hogsmeade weekends indefinitely but he refused. Said the kids needed to get out and be kids occasionally, regardless of our state of war. He refused to see that by allowing Hogsmeade weekends that he would be putting many of you into an uncomfortable position of potentially being forced to be marked. If any of your parents find out about the Hogsmeade weekend in advance it will be entirely too easy for them to take you on one of those days. If you refuse to ever go to Hogsmeade again then your parents will question it and you will all be in greater danger. Dumbledore didn't understand…or refused to understand more like. No doubt he knows exactly what will happen."

Draco sighed. "The man is a fool. I can see why you sent your son away to school. I almost wish Father had gotten his way and sent me to Durmstrang. I guess I wouldn't even have you then though."

"There were a few reasons behind my decision to send him away, not least of all to escape the manipulations of Albus Dumbledore."

"You're happy that he's here, aren't you? I haven't seen you really smile while at Hogwarts…ever. He seems nice, even though he hangs out with Gryffindors. And evidently incredibly smart if Pomfrey would accept him as an apprentice." Although the Slytherin would never admit it to anyone he had a profound respect for the mediwitch. She wasn't terribly powerful but she had succeeded in her chosen field through hard work and determination. After having everything handed to him on a silver platter he found great respect for anyone who was successful on his or her own merits.

"He is, although he would undoubtedly deny his intelligence if given a chance. He doesn't take compliments very well."

"Is he really dating Weasley?" Draco clearly had a difficult time believing this, regardless of their conversation on the train. It was simply too unbelievable! Granted, he didn't know Tallis at all but what he thought he knew of Severus would have never stood for such a thing.

"Yes, he has been dating Bill for two years now."

Draco sighed. "A lot of the guys wanted me to check and see if he was available. They're convinced he has some elvish blood in him. I didn't tell them who his mother was because I wasn't certain if you wanted everyone to know but I reassured him that he was entirely human. He is, isn't he?" Severus nodded. "I also told them that an apprentice would never date a student. They didn't believe me though, or else believed more in their own ability to turn his head. There will be quite a few broken hearts tonight." Severus snorted at that statement. His son, the heartbreaker, indeed. "How can you handle your son dating a Weasley?"

"They aren't all that bad, Bill especially. I always thought he was the smartest of the lot. He treats Tallis well, which is all that I can ask for. Tallis seems intent on keeping him so I don't object." Draco smirked at the way that Severus spoke of Tallis' boyfriend as if he were a stray puppy, but the smirk was quickly wiped from his face at his godfather's next statement. "There has been little enough joy in his life, I would never knowingly refuse him such a simple pleasure as dating a Weasley."

"What do you mean? Why hasn't his life been good? What happened?" He couldn't imagine anything terribly bad ever happening to the boy. He was as rich as Midas and had a father who clearly loved him dearly.

Severus sighed. "I am afraid that it is not my place to tell you. I promised him that he could tell you when he wanted to. He seems to like you and want to be friends with you though, so I am sure that he will do so relatively soon. Do not break his trust though, in anything. It is difficult to earn his trust and once broken, never regained."

"Has he been ill? He's so much smaller than I would have imagined him. All of the Snapes have been tall and I didn't think that the Jurows were known to be terribly small."

Severus sighed, not entirely certain how to answer that question either. "That too will come with his explanation. I'm sorry I can give you no more. He will tell you, in time, I am sure."

Draco nodded, clearly dissatisfied with the somewhat cryptic answers he had gotten. "I guess I should get back before curfew starts. It was good seeing you. This summer was…hard without you." Draco quickly changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on his dark thoughts. "Does Tallis like to fly? Maybe we can go out for a bit tomorrow. The Slyths were talking about getting together a game of Quidditch. I'm sure they would love for him to join in."

"Yes, Tallis does enjoy flying but I am not certain if he will be ready to go out tomorrow. Why don't you stop by the rooms after breakfast? I believe that we will eat here to avoid the crowds for a bit longer." If Draco thought his last statement was odd he didn't comment on it but instead simply hugged his godfather goodbye and slipped from the rooms.

Severus went down the hallway towards his own room. The small apartment had been slightly rearranged when Tallis' room had been expanded. Now the bathroom was on the left side of the hallway and his son's room a bit further down on the right. There was a rather large study with two desks across from his son's room and his own room was at the end of the hallway. He looked in to Tallis' dark room. Clearly his son had already fallen asleep. He always kept his door open when he slept alone, out of an old fear of being locked in. Somehow having it open, even just a crack, was enough to reassure him that he was safe and could leave whenever he wanted to.

Severus smiled and smoothed his boy's hair back from his face. He had done remarkably well today. When he had heard Tallis' plan to keep his highest level of protection turned off until further notice he never thought he would make it through that first day in Diagon Alley, much less the first day back at Hogwarts. He knew it was incredibly difficult for his son to do this and he was insanely proud of him for working so hard on his phobias. Maybe he would be ready to go out and play some Quidditch with the boys tomorrow. While he was technically a teacher he was not a full professor and so he didn't have to follow as stringent of rules as the other professors did and he could go out with the other students as he wished. He hoped Tallis would be able to fly: he knew he took great joy in being in the air.


	30. A Day With Draco

A/N: Thank you to all of my reviewers. Your kind words mean so much to me. You are always so encouraging and kind. I am frankly rather amazed I haven't gotten a single flame yet! knocks on wood 

Tallis has a few more juvenile (for lack of a better word) moments in this chapter. Sometimes a 17 year old needs to be a 17 year old. He is mature far beyond his years but he still needs to have a few moments of being a kid. At least I think so.

I see Draco as a good person for him to truly be a kid around. All the time that Ron has known him (my Harry at least) he has been dealing with incredibly heavy, adult issues. Even when they try to forget them and be kids the issues are still very much there. Here, Harry finally has someone he can trust and be friends with who doesn't yet know about his past. I believe it would be easier for him to let go and be a kid a bit. Plus, it helps having a boyfriend who still appreciates adolescent humor (mine certainly does!).

Enjoy!

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Chapter 30 

Tallis and his father sat at the small table in their kitchen, eating breakfast quietly. Their comfortable silence was broken by someone knocking on the door. Tallis looked up, startled. "That's Draco again. I forgot to tell you he was coming by this morning." Tallis started to stand up to go get a shirt but Severus waved him back down. "Don't worry about it. He'll see them soon enough, I'm sure. Continue your breakfast. You're still too thin." He walked away to let Draco in while Tallis smiled and stood to refill his coffee cup at the counter. As much as it had annoyed him when his friends pestered him to eat more he liked it when his Father did so. He _liked_ having a parent who cared whether he ate or not and who actually noticed how much he had consumed. Under his Father's watchful eye, Tallis had gained almost a full stone over the holiday, filling him out quite nicely for his size.

He had just finished refilling his cup when Draco entered the kitchen. "Good gods" he let out in a strangled whisper. Tallis turned at the sound and saw Draco standing in the doorway.

"Good morning, Draco" he said as if nothing was amiss, leaning back against the counter and sipping his freshly made coffee. He watched Draco in amusement as Draco tried to take all of his tattoos in at once. He knew it must be shocking to most people. He himself hardly noticed them anymore. He wasn't entirely certain how his Father and friends saw him anymore but he suspected that they no longer found the tattoos startling or even particularly noteworthy on most occasions.

Draco stared at the heavily tattooed boy, slowly taking it all in. Tallis' tattoos were largely in shades of gray and black with only a few flashes of color. The large phoenix on his lower back was done entirely in deep reds and golds but no other tattoo was as colorful as that one. The tattoos stood out starkly on his lithe, tan body.

Draco couldn't seem to collect himself enough to do anything but stare. Severus prodded him over to the table to take a seat while Tallis regained his own seat and took another piece of toast, spreading a ridiculously thick layer of jam on it just how he liked it. Finally, Draco was able to talk again. "A _few_ tattoos? Merlin's balls! How did you get so many? You're only a year older than me, aren't you?"

"Yes. I like tattoos" Tallis said simply. He hadn't quite come up with a more thorough or convincing reason for the number of tattoos he had aside from the truth which he was not ready to reveal yet. He decided to go with a rather weak statement of generally liking body art.

"But how did you get so many so quickly? You're only a year older than me, aren't you?"

"Father allowed me to go get my first one when I was 14" Tallis said, quickly supplying the story that he and his Father had fabricated earlier. "I got them pretty regularly after that." The time line barely worked with this new story. He was supposed to be 18 so that allowed four years to get the work done in, nearly one year faster than he had actually accomplished it. He might look marginally insane but it was still very possible.

"Merlin" Draco muttered again.

"How was breakfast?" Severus asked, trying to help his godson begin thinking properly again.

"Fine. Not much happened." He seemed fully recovered from his shock finally, and he slipped back into the conversation again. "Rumors are flying as to the true whereabouts of the Golden Boy. Is it true that he's dead?"

Severus choked on the sip of coffee he had just taken. "No, he is not dead. Where on earth did you hear that?"

"The Prophet printed as much. They made sure that it was clear that it was just a rumor but it was printed nonetheless. Frankly, I think that it was a rumor started solely by them to cause a mass panic and to sell more papers. What is really going on?"

"He is simply not returning to Hogwarts for a time, much as Dumbledore announced and I reiterated last night. And before you ask, no I have no idea where he has been moved. Dumbledore has not revealed that information to anyone and even if he were to reveal it I sincerely doubt that I would be at the top of his list of confidants."

Draco nodded. "I rather doubted it was true. I don't think the boy _can_ die. Not to mention his sidekicks looked a bit down but they were certainly not devastated. I don't think those two could truly function without their boy hero. I'm not entirely certain what would happen in this war if Potter _did _die. I don't really want to imagine." He moved on to the true reason for his visit, not wanting to linger on his concerns for Harry Potter which felt very strange to him. He enjoyed teasing the boy and picking fights with him but he by no means cared about his general wellbeing. "Me and a few Slytherins were going to try to play a game of Quidditch if you want to join us Tallis."

Tallis looked up eagerly for a moment and then sighed. "I need to help my father get things ready for classes tomorrow. We have too much work."

Draco turned to Severus, his eyes pleading. "Can he come out with us if I come back and help him set up later?"

Severus agreed almost instantly. He knew that neither Draco nor Tallis had many friends and both wanted more. Draco was for the large part surrounded by imbeciles and flatterers who wanted his wealth and power and he knew it. Tallis was scared to trust easily but he seemed to take Severus at his word that Draco was trustworthy. It would do both boys good to spend a bit of time together. He also dearly wanted the two to become friends so that he would no longer have to separate the two brightest spots in his life. He nodded his agreement.

Tallis raced off to dress and grab his new broom. His father had ordered him one a few weeks ago, knowing that his old broom was too well known for him to ever disguise it well enough. The broom that Sirius had given him was safely locked away with his other Harry Potter memorabilia at the manor. He emerged almost immediately, still flushed from dressing so quickly. He wore a pair of loose cargo pants that were tied low on his hips and a tight white ribbed tank top. He carried a long sleeved hooded sweatshirt in his hands along with his broom. Tallis grabbed a spare tie from the table to pull his hair back into a ponytail. "I'm ready, are you?" he eagerly asked Draco. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to fly this summer—they had been too busy with everything else that was going on for him to take time to play.

"Be careful," Severus said firmly. Tallis locked eyes with him for a moment, understanding all that he needed to be careful of. His Father, of course, wanted him to be physiclly safe but he also needed to be careful to not reveal that he was Harry Potter.

"I will," he said. He knew that he needed to take this seriously. He didn't want to be exposed on his first full day here just because he went for a quick fly around the field.

The two boys left to go to the Slytherin dorms for Draco to grab his broom. Tallis pulled on his sweatshirt as he went, feeling chilled in the damp hallways. When they entered the common room everyone looked up in surprise to see their Head of House's son. Tallis tried to ignore their stares and followed Draco to the seventh year boy's room to get his broom. They headed back down to go to the pitch where the rest of those who wanted to play were already waiting. Most of the students who had earlier decided to stay in the common room changed their minds and followed them out. They wanted to see the new Snape play.

Tallis was greeted eagerly by those who were playing and they quickly divided into teams. He and Draco were both chasers on the same team. It had been decided that they would play without seekers, instead limiting their game to the other positions. Tallis stripped off his sweatshirt to get ready to play. Gasps were barely muffled all around him as the students saw his tattoos. He and Draco ignored them though and instead mounted their brooms to take a quick lap. Draco may have been just as floored as his classmates were when he had first seen the tattoos but he would never let on to such a thing in public. He presented his typically composed face to the world, even his fellow Slytherins, acting as if there was nothing remotely unusual about his companion. The other Slytherins quickly began to imitate Draco's composure and gained the air as well and a quick game was begun.

Tallis flew well but he held back quite a bit, wary of being discovered through his flying even without his trademark broom. He hoped that by switching to another position that was so different from his own that he would help to disguise himself. No one beside the Weasleys had ever seen Harry Potter play as a Chaser. He made no deep dives and generally tried to fly as simply an adequate flyer. Even with holding back on any breathtaking moves though he was still a marvel to watch. His grace and ease in the air was obvious to everyone. It was very clear that the small boy belonged in the air.

The teams had been well formed and the game was close. Finally, Tallis and Draco's team pulled ahead by a bit. The two young men played remarkably well together, often able to almost read the other's mind when trying to score a goal. They reached the 200 point mark which had earlier been set as the winning goal. Everyone flew down, exhausted but happy. Many of the Slytherins were impressed by Tallis' abilities, especially with how accurate he was with the Quaffle, but he brushed their compliments aside. The Slytherins decided to stay outside and chat for a while but Tallis and Draco headed in to keep their promise to the Potions Master.

They found him hard at work in the classroom organizing his syllabi into three stacks: one for Tallis, one for both of them to use depending on who was teaching that particular day, and one for himself. He greeted the boys as they set their brooms in the corner. "What do you need us to do?" Tallis asked.

"I thought you could both reorganize the supply storeroom, if you don't mind."

"Certainly. Do you want it how it is at home?" Tallis asked, already engrossed in his task.

"That would be good."

"I can't remember exactly how everything is at Snape Manor" Draco said softly to Tallis as they walked toward the large supply cupboard. "I haven't made a potion there in years, probably since before I started at Hogwarts."

"Father and I rearranged the ingredients this summer so you wouldn't have ever seen it the way it is now. Don't worry. We'll work together. It doesn't need to be exact, just so long as it all makes sense to the students for how to find their ingredients."

"Alphabetical order makes the most sense to me" Draco said, trying to imagine what could possibly be easier for the students.

"In some ways, yes, but I prefer something like the manor's labs. There we have it all arranged by family, so that all of the natural poisons are together, all natural fauna is together, magical creatures and so on. It also will serve as a learning tool for the students if they first have to figure out what something is rather than just searching for a potentially meaningless word. I know the upper years won't really benefit from it much but the younger years will—especially the muggleborns. They've never heard of most of these things so it will help them to understand potions a bit better if they understand where their ingredients come from."

Draco looked down at Tallis in amazement. "Wow. I never thought about a stockroom being a lesson before. I guess it really can be. Are you excited to start teaching?"

"A bit nervous, really. Father assures me I'll be fine. I don't know, I've never officially taught anyone before."

"It's only first years. If you mess up they'll never know."

Tallis laughed lightly. "That's true."

"What are you doing your first lesson on?"

"Just general lab safety first off. I might go ahead and introduce them to the potions stockroom and tell them a bit about the major families of ingredients. I'm not too sure: I haven't looked over my father's syllabus yet. What did he do your first year?"

"Hmm? Oh, blew in here like a great bat and started hissing about the great beauty and art of potion making. No one had any clue what he was talking about. It was great," Draco said with a grin.

Tallis smirked. "Yes, I can see that. He does tend to talk over everyone quite a bit. He has a hard time realizing that not everyone finds potions as simple as he does. I'm sure he does better with the upper years. He seemed outright relieved to pass off the young ones to me."

They heard a light knock at the door and Bill stuck his head in, taking in the sight of the two boys surrounded by endless jars of ingredients. They had taken most of the ingredients off the shelves in preparation for reorganizing them and had not yet started to re-shelve any of them. "Hard at work, I see."

Tallis gave a delighted whoop and ran over to kiss his boyfriend. "I wasn't expecting you 'til later! I thought you were busy all day helping Molly around the house."

"We ended earlier than expected. The twins dropped by and ended up staying to help."

Tallis realized that he had not yet introduced Draco. "Oh, I'm sorry. Have you met Draco Malfoy?" Tallis asked, knowing full well that he had but also knowing that as Tallis Snape he shouldn't know that.

"Yes, a long time ago. How are you doing, Draco?" he asked kindly.

Draco collected himself quickly despite the shock that a Weasley was being so friendly with him. "Very well. You, Weasley?"

"Please call me Bill. There are entirely too many Weasleys to continue to use our last name."

Draco smirked at this statement. It was entirely true but he was used to Ron throwing a fit whenever he mentioned the large amount of Weasleys so Bill's easy acceptance was refreshing. "Of course. I'd tell you to call me Draco but it seems that you already do."

"Ah, yes, well I've heard Tallis and Severus speak of you so often that it never occurred to me to call you anything else. Sorry" he said, blushing lightly. He truly _had_ gotten used to hearing the young Malfoy heir referred to by his first name and he never gave it a second thought when he greeted him.

"How are you coming along?" Severus called from his desk. "You'd better be working and not snogging!"

"Draco's in here with us!" Tallis yelled back, clearly scandalized at his father's suggestion that he would make out with his boyfriend in the Slytherin's presence. Draco snorted with laughter and Bill joined in, more so because he knew that had Draco not been present that they _would_ have been making out.

"I'd better start helping you before he kicks me out. I swear, the second I step back into this classroom that man forgets that I am 28 and thinks I'm 11 again," Bill said, bending over to pick up some ingredients. The three worked quickly once Bill understood what Tallis was trying to do. He often had to stop to check what section an ingredient belonged in but Tallis patiently answered all of his questions.

They finally emerged, the room completely reorganized and their stomachs growling loudly. "Ready for a lunch break, Father?" Tallis asked.

"Is it time already? Yes, of course. Sorry, the time slipped away from me. Shall we all go back to our rooms?" They all nodded and followed Severus back to the Snape Family rooms. Tallis called a house elf to order some lunch for the four and they all settled down in the sitting room to wait for the sandwiches and drinks. The food appeared almost immediately and the boys all dug in eagerly, with Severus following with as much decorum as possible when eating with his hands in an overstuffed armchair.

"Can you stay the night tonight?" Tallis asked eagerly. He had gotten used to Bill sleeping beside him and found it difficult to sleep without his warm weight in the bed to help drive away the nightmares.

"Yes but I have to be at work by nine. Can I use the floo to leave in the morning or will I need to walk off the grounds and apparate?"

"You may use the floo," Severus said. "Has Tallis given you the password to our rooms yet?"

"Told me on our walk over here."

"If you give that to Weasley I'll gut you." Bill just laughed at Severus' idle threat. "Just because I allow one Gryffindor in my rooms doesn't mean I wish to open my home to all of the little brats."

Draco watched all of the interactions eagerly. He was fascinated by this new side of his godfather and by Tallis and Bill's relationship. They all seemed very comfortable around each other. Bill had clearly spent a large amount of time at the manor. After he had given it some more thought last night he had decided that he was pleased that his godfather had a son. It would almost be like having a brother. And, as much as it pained him to admit it, Bill Weasley wasn't too bad. Guess Sev was right after all.

"So, are you seeing anyone, Draco" Bill asked.

"Not at the moment, no. My father is trying to interest me in Pansy Parkinson but I promise you that'll never happen" he said with a shudder.

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Tallis asked, curious. Even as Harry Potter he had never really known Pansy very well. He knew she wasn't considered to be terribly attractive but other than that he knew nothing.

"She's hideous and her voice could drive even the Dark Lord himself to commit suicide in an effort to escape the screeching." Severus failed to suppress a snort at that statement. It was entirely true.

Nonetheless he felt the need to give at least a token stand for the girl. "That is not very kind, Draco" he said mildly.

"But it's true." Draco countered. "Not only that she is conniving and cruel. I could never date her, much less marry her."

"Is there anyone you are interested in?" Tallis asked, curious as to who could have caught the blond Slytherin's eye.

"Not really. There are a few cute Ravenclaw girls but no one I'm actively trying to get. There's a hot Gryffindor I was kind of interested in but I doubt it would work."

"Who?" Tallis asked, curious as to which Gryffindor it was.

"A sixth year, Ella O'Neill. She's not terribly smart but she has the most gorgeous legs I've ever seen, Gryffindor or not. I wouldn't mind having her for a while," he said, smirking.

"Is it really necessary to subject me to this juvenile locker room talk?" Severus asked dryly.

"This is hardly locker room talk, Sev. We can undoubtedly get dirty if you really want us to though," Draco said with a smirk.

Bill decided to get in the spirit of things. Not to mention he always enjoyed making Severus squirm. Talking about sex _always_ made Severus squirm, especially if his son was present. "I once dated a guy who had a Prince Albert." At Severus' blank look Bill elaborated. "He had his dick pierced—"

"Hey! Locker room talk is supposed to be about girls!" Draco protested, clutching his legs together at the sheer thought of such a piercing.

"Um…I once kissed a girl" Tallis put in helpfully. He scrunched up his nose at the memory. "It was kind of gross though," he said as an afterthought. "I think I made her cry." Draco snorted loudly at that statement. Severus had to turn away to hide his smile but his shaking shoulders gave away his silent laughter.

"I once accidentally felt a girl up." Bill supplied.

"How do you accidentally feel a girl up?" Tallis asked, curious as to how such a thing could even happen. Draco simply shook his head in disbelief at what he was hearing.

Bill blushed. "Well, I tripped over my bag, in the potions classroom, actually Severus, and fell into this poor Hufflepuff's chair. I tried to catch myself and accidentally…grabbed…um, her. So Severus actually witnessed my first and only sexual experience with a girl. Bet that makes you feel special, huh?"

Severus refused to even dignify that question with a grunt.

"Hmm…together we sort of make a straight guy, huh?"

"You two are hopeless" Draco muttered. "I really need some straight friends."

"Most of Bill's brothers are straight" Tallis put in helpfully.

Draco was saved from trying to form a response to that bit of information by his godfather's timely snarky comments. "Well, after that unnecessary and slightly disturbing insight into all of your sex lives, I believe we should return to work. Draco, thank you for your assistance this morning. You are welcome to join us again but there is no need for you to continue to put in hours. You've more than made up for depriving me of Tallis' assistance this morning."

"I'll come back for a bit more," Draco said, clearly enjoying his time with Tallis and Bill even if it meant doing extra work. Severus nodded and stood to walk back to the classroom. Tallis was put to work looking through the first and second year syllabi to see if he had any questions or if he wanted to rearrange any lessons. Draco and Bill were assigned to prepare a few potion ingredients to help out the upper years. Severus wanted them to make a potion on Monday that would take too much time if they also had to prepare everything. Draco had to repeatedly correct Bill's work but he persevered. The afternoon slipped away with idle chatter and soon everything was ready for classes to begin tomorrow.

They all went back to their rooms to clean up for dinner and then Draco returned to walk with them to dinner. Severus sent him back to his son's room to collect them for the evening meal. Draco overheard Tallis say to Bill "I suppose we need to at least make an appearance in the Great Hall for dinner." He sounded utterly dejected.

"It won't be that bad. You sit at the head table, right? They won't be able to touch you, don't worry. They'll just be looking at you. It's not their fault you're beautiful." He started covering Tallis' face in sloppy kisses making Tallis giggle helplessly.

"You're right, it'll be fine." Draco chose that moment to knock on the door, alerting them to his presence. His mind though, was running rampant with this new information. Why would Tallis be worried that people would touch him? Why would it matter so much?

-

A/N: No lengthy Quidditch scene largely because those always bore me. I even skip the lovely JKR's when she writes them. It probably doesn't help that I generally dislike sports. Frankly, I don't understand the purpose of them. I'd rather spend my money to see a play or an opera any day. If you had been looking forward to long, drawn out Quidditch games, um…sorry.

Let me know what you think of Draco when he doesn't have to put on his Slytherin persona. I've always liked to assume that there is more to him than nastiness and a bad temper. Surely he acts differently in private. Mine does anyhow. Review!


	31. The First Day

A/N: Tallis' first day teaching begins how my first day of teaching began, bar the general fear that the kids have for him. The whole being late and losing the attendance list thing and silently praying that half the class would find out they were in the wrong room and leave (not a single person left) _did_ happen, as did other, _far_ more embarrassing things that I decided to spare Tallis. Enjoy! 

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Chapter 31 

Twenty pairs of scared, wide eyes stared up at Apprentice Snape. Tallis stood at the podium in the front of the room, shuffling through his papers to find his roll. This was _not_ how he wanted to begin his first day teaching, having already arrived a few minutes late and now not being able to find the damn list of his students. He finally spotted it buried inside one of his medimagic texts and pulled it out, triumphant. He finally turned back to the room full of overwhelmed first years.

"Sorry about that. Welcome to your first year of potions. If you are not supposed to be in potions right now you may leave." No one moved. Ah well, guess he was stuck with all of them. "Right. Let's see who's here before we begin." He quickly called roll, marking down each student when they replied with their shaky affirmative. Merlin, had _he_ ever been that scared on his first day? He sighed. He had probably been worse than they were. He rolled up the scroll that had his attendance listed on it and tucked it away in the desk.

"As I said before, welcome to potions. I am Apprentice Snape. I will be your instructor for this course. Upon occasion I will be detained in the hospital wing and Professor Snape will fill in for me." The terror level just ratcheted up a notch. Guess they were even more scared of his father. He smirked at them, making one small Hufflepuff actually let out a smothered scream and fall out of her chair. Tallis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Barely.

"I believe that you will find that I am much more easy going than Professor Snape. When he does fill in for me though you do not need to worry. He has been teaching for many years and is fully capable of picking up a class with no notice." He was fully aware that his Father's ability to teach a class on late notice was not a concern of any of the students but he wasn't about to lie to them and tell them that his Father would be extra nice to them when he did fill in. No need to fill their heads with such nonsense on the first day.

"We will begin by learning basic lab safety. You may not begin to brew potions in this lab until you understand all of the rules and have submitted a fourteen-inch essay on the matter. If you are in breach of any of the lab rules then you will find yourself with a detention and an additional ten-inch essay on the merits of the specific rule or rules that you violated." The pale faces nodded solemnly at Tallis. "Your essay will be returned to me by our next class or you may not perform the practical. Every practical that you are prevented from performing due to your own negligence cannot be made up in any form and will result in a score of 0 for the day. I wish to take this time to remind you that this is, in fact, a required course for all of you through your fifth year. It would not be a good start to your career here at Hogwarts to begin by failing Potions." There. That should put a bit of fear into them.

Tallis quickly went through his rules and allowed ample time for questions. He wanted to make sure that everything was clear. He also taught them a few of the simplest spells that they would be using in the lab such as spells used to raise and lower the flame under their cauldrons. As much as he loved his father he was a terrible teacher largely because the students were too terrified to ask questions and those who were brave enough to ask were typically met with a sneer and ridicule, depending on their house. Severus should not have ever been a teacher.

Tallis, however, was thriving, once the students got over their initial fear of him and they began to understand his odd sense of humor. Evidently the upper classmen had kept them up late at night with horror stories about Snape Senior and the poor first years had assumed the same would be true of his son. They were thrilled to note that Apprentice Snape did not expect them to be potion experts on their first day and that he seemed to encourage students who were lost or confused to ask questions.

The class period ended quickly and the students filed out, chattering about potions and their cute new professor. Tallis rolled his eyes and packed up his belongings as the seventh year NEWT class filed in. Hermione rushed to his side, eager to hear how his first class went. "How was it? Did they all behave?"

"Yes, Miss Granger, they were all excellent" Tallis replied. He had already learned that he needed to refer to all students by their last names when he was in the classroom setting. Outside of the classroom he could still have friends and call them by their first names but never within either the lab or the infirmary. To be safe he had decided to refer to all of them by last names any time he was not either in his own apartment or else in their secret study chambers, which Severus _still _hadn't approved. Hermione smiled and patted his arm and quickly sat down next to the only other Gryffindor who had made it into seventh year potions: Dean Thomas.

Draco entered and quickly smiled at Tallis and also claimed a seat. "Are you going to be working with us today, Apprentice Snape?"

"I'm just here for the first thirty minutes mainly for introductions then I'm needed in the infirmary."

The rest of the students quickly filed in, clearly worried about being late and bringing down the combined wrath of the two Snapes. They knew that when one Snape was angry with you it was terrible…they could only imagine how bad it would be now that there were two of them.

Severus blew into the room at the last minute, as usual, making a grand entrance, robes flapping wildly. "Good morning, class. You are all present because you somehow managed to pass your final examination last year, although some of you defy explanation for your presence. Regardless, this year will be far more intense than prior years. You will be working on delicate potions occasionally that will take longer to brew than the allotted class time. If you expect to pass the assignment then you will remain in the classroom and work through your lunch period." A quiet murmur filled the room. "If you feel that you prefer a timely lunch to ever finding a remotely respectable job outside of Hogwarts then by all means, leave now." No one moved.

"Pity." Severus said quietly, having hoped that this would get rid of at least a few students. "This is Apprentice Snape. He will be assisting in the classroom throughout the year. If he tells you to do something then I recommend either doing it or withdrawing from my course. I will not brook disrespect from any of you toward my apprentice. Have I made myself perfectly clear?" The fourteen students who had made it into seventh year potions nodded quickly, trying to avoid his wrath. "Good. Today we will begin work on a revitalization draught. Open your textbooks to page 214."

The class listened to Severus' brief lecture trying to jot down as much as they could as he spoke rapidly about the intricacies of the potion and then they hurried to the storeroom to gather ingredients. They stared blankly at the newly rearranged shelves until Draco snidely pointed out the system to the other Slytherins who were in the class: Millie Bulstrode, Blaise Zabini, and Theo Nott. He, of course, did so loudly enough for everyone to hear. He wouldn't want to be accused of being kind though, so he made it look like he only helped his friends. Tallis had to leave shortly after everyone began preparing his or her ingredients.

Tallis hurried on his way to the infirmary. He was on duty there during Madame Pomfrey's lunch hour. He had not had any true training yet but he knew enough to deal with the typical first day woes that rarely allotted to more than a case of homesickness. He had also been given a necklace that he could use to alert Madame Pomfrey when he needed her help. She had a matching one that she would wear whenever he was alone in the infirmary and it would start to heat up when he had a question. Once she responded to it they could use the necklaces to consult on the case at hand. If it were bad enough then she would return to the Infirmary. A great many of the cases that they dealt with though could be healed with a simple potion so she knew it would be rare that she would need to return to him.

He managed to arrive just on time. There were no patients in the Infirmary at all and the sight of the completely empty Infirmary was strange to Tallis. Madame Pomfrey sat at her desk, sorting through her files for her new students. "How has your first day gone so far, Tallis?"

"Pretty well. My students were all scared of me when they got to class. One girl even fell out of her chair at one point, though I'm not entirely certain what brought that on. They seemed a bit more relaxed toward the end of class though."

"You met one of the NEWT classes as well, didn't you?"

"Yes, the seventh years. My Father blew in and terrified them as usual, trying to get some to drop his class. No one left though." Tallis and Poppy laughed at Severus. He had been doing that religiously since he had started teaching and only about three students had ever actually withdrawn when he offered it on the first day. He never gave up hope though. He once told Poppy that he had actually dreamed once that after making his traditional Start of Class speech that the entire roster of students withdrew immediately in terror of remaining. Poppy still giggled remembering the look of bliss on Severus' face when he told her that.

"Well, things have been quiet around here so far. At 2 our check ups with the first years will begin to establish a medical history. You will stay by my side for the first hour or so and then I will let you try a few of the spells on the students while I observe. Once I am certain that you have it correct you will go to the second examination room and begin examining them as well." Upon seeing Tallis' startled expression at the idea of testing new spells out on first years she hurried to explain. "The spells that we use on the average student are only scanning spells to check recent and current illnesses and deeply probing spells to check for a general medical history. The spells are part charm and part medimagic so I am sure that you will pick it up quickly. You shouldn't need to do anything else. Each appointment only lasts around ten minutes."

Poppy watched as Tallis processed the fact that his four hour long appointment when he was a first year was so abnormal. He hadn't really expected anyone to come in as beat up as he had been but he had assumed that they would all need a bit of healing magic for various things. "It's alright, dear. We have a special friendship, don't we? And we got to start it all those years ago at your first appointment." She put her arms around Tallis, hugging him tightly. Tallis pulled himself back together and smiled weakly at her. "There now, that's better. Do you remember how to contact me if you need help?"

"Yes, I should be fine. Thank you Poppy."

"There's nothing that I wouldn't do for you dear. You just need to let me know what you need." Tallis knew that she spoke of more than just giving him some help with any patients who may come in. He hugged her tightly, surprising the nearly unflappable witch momentarily and then he quickly released her and went to sit down at his new desk. Poppy smiled at Tallis, pleased that he had healed so much over the summer. Severus had been good for her young friend. "I'll be back at one, dear."

Tallis pulled out the book he was currently working through, _Unnatural Transfigurations_. It was a book that explained how to fix patients who had a transfiguration spell go horribly wrong. When that happened it was impossible to simply reverse it as easily as it was when the spell had been done as it was intended. Undoing mistakes was incredibly complex because it essentially needed to be taken on a case by case basis while taking into consideration any one (or more) of a thirty page list of potential issues. Before he could begin to actually work with patients Tallis needed to learn all of the theory behind the practice and memorize books and lists such as this one so that he could call the information to hand in an emergency without stopping to look up a text.

No one had come to the infirmary for any reasons during Tallis' hour alone. Poppy came bustling back promptly at one and sent him packing off to lunch. They had arranged their lunches so that Poppy was in the Great Hall at the beginning of lunch and Tallis was there toward the end. Severus would no doubt time his own entrance around Tallis' projected lunchtime.

Tallis entered the hall somewhat hesitantly. A great deal of the eyes once again swung over to him but he ignored them as best he could and walked up to the head table to sit beside his father. His father's surly expression immediately lightened and a hint of a smile (which no doubt Snape had believed he had squelched entirely) was present, shocking the great hall into a temporary silence. Tallis took no notice of the students though and happily settled in next to his father. His morning, while calm, had still been overwhelming. He was grateful for the familiar presence of his father.

"I hear you were actually…nice to the little buggers" Severus sneered. "The brats have been singing your praises all day."

"Not too much. I just lectured on lab safety like I had planned. Nothing too exciting. Did you get anyone to drop out of your seventh year NEWT class?"

"Unfortunately not. I had hoped that a few would run screaming at the idea that they might miss their precious lunch. Not to mention the threat of two Snapes. One would think it was the apocalypse the way some of them were acting." This statement set Tallis laughing, knowing that many of the students were no doubt thinking exactly that. Not too long ago _he_ would have thought that. His bright laugh caught the attention of many of those sitting near by who wondered how on earth the young Snape could possibly find Professor Snape _funny_. They strained to hear what the two men were talking about but no one could make anything out. Students exchanged looks of incredulity across the hall as one and all wondered how their Potions Master was so…human with his son.

"You begin your examinations of the first years this afternoon, do you not?"

"Yes, at two. It will be a bit odd examining my own students but I guess I'd be faced with it sooner or later when some of my students show up in the infirmary. Somehow that hadn't occurred to me before today."

"I'm sure you will do well. Have people been leaving you alone?" The simple question was loaded with other, more important questions, all of which Tallis understood. He was really asking if Dumbledore had bothered him, if the students had been harassing him, if too many people had been touching him, and a myriad of other concerns.

"Yes, for the most part, I haven't been bothered. I'm still not used to having so many people near me, regardless of what is going on. Before, I always had my friends to serve as a buffer and I could pretend that the rest of the students weren't there. Without them, it is a bit overwhelming. I'll manage though. At least during the exams I only need to use spells from a few feet away. If anything is actually wrong I'll need to call in Poppy to deal with it."

"Even if there is something wrong I sincerely doubt that you will need to physically touch any students. Poppy and I have already discussed it a bit and she'll explain it in greater detail to you later but the more powerful the witch or wizard the further away they should be from their patients when actually casting a spell. Poppy needs to physically touch the students in order to obtain an accurate reading much of the time because she is not very powerful. Your spells will be so powerful that you could actually damage yourself badly if you touched a student while using healing magic."

"Myself? Not the student?"

"Touching them would provide too great a drain on your powers, most of which would simply enter the environment rather than the student. The student may feel overly energized for a short while but nothing too major would happen. With as powerful as you are, I'm not entirely certain what would happen if you abused your power by doing that. I would rather not find out, either" he said sharply, giving his son his the most threatening look he dared. He knew that his son was still at least partially a Gryffindor and he was worried that the boy would rush right out to find out what happened if he channeled healing magic into a patient and touched them while the spell was still in full force.

Tallis nodded. He didn't entirely understand everything that he had learned. He needed to speak more with Poppy to understand everything. He was relieved though that he wouldn't need to touch his patients constantly. Although it was easier when he chose to touch someone than when they touched him he was still uncomfortable with it and having to do so for long hours would stress him out beyond imagining. He was well aware that he needed to move beyond his fear of touch but he wasn't ready for something quite like that yet.

The two men finished their meal and stood to leave, Severus heading down to the dungeons and Tallis walking quickly to the infirmary. Remus stepped into his path just as he turned the corner to enter the infirmary. The werewolf breathed deeply, taking in the mysterious scent. His eyes lit up in recognition as he finally realized why he smelled so familiar. "What—"

Tallis quickly cut him off. "I'll tell you more, when I can. Right now I am needed in the infirmary for our examinations. Meet me in the Snape rooms later tonight. Maybe around eight. You need to be quiet about this" he said quietly but firmly. Remus nodded immediately. He didn't know what was going on but he knew that he would do whatever Harry said. Harry was the last remaining member of his pack and he had missed him desperately over the summer. But this wasn't Harry…couldn't be Harry. Remus shook his head in confusion and decided that eight o'clock couldn't come soon enough.

Tallis stepped around him and into the infirmary, ready to begin his afternoon's work. Poppy gave him a bright smile and motioned toward the long line of first years awaiting their examination. The Ravenclaws were the first ones there and when they had gotten around half way through them they would send for the Slytherins.

"Come along, dearie." Madame Pomfrey motioned toward the first student. "Apprentice Snape and I will be administering the examination today. Nothing to worry about, just a few quick spells and some questions to confirm the results."

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

The rest of the afternoon went well, with Tallis learning the scanning spells quickly. There weren't any "trouble" cases this year and none of the students had any mysterious or unexplained injuries. Poppy was relieved. It wasn't often that they had an abused child at Hogwarts but it happened often enough for her to worry each year. No child that she had helped before had prepared her remotely enough for the young Harry Potter though.

Tallis left the infirmary when Poppy returned from her early dinner to go to the Great Hall himself for some dinner. No one had come in during his shift again, largely because most of them were eating their dinner. The first day was always extremely slow since most of the teachers were giving start of the year speeches and very little practical work was done.

Tallis walked toward the Great Hall, once again dreading entering it. He wished dearly that there were side doors that he could use so that he didn't have to walk up that long aisle by himself. He hoped his father was still there. He didn't want to imagine a meal in the hall without either his father or Poppy at his side. He walked through the doors and breathed a quick sigh of relief at seeing his father's stern countenance in his usual seat, just starting his meal.

Draco watched Tallis closely, noticing the carefully concealed panic and then the relief when he caught sight of his father. Something was definitely strange about Tallis Snape and he intended to find out what it was. He wished that there was an easy way to simply spy on the boy and find out the secret but he was scared to get caught. Tallis was clearly brilliant and after Sev's warning on that first night he was wary of being discovered by Tallis and losing his trust. He sighed heavily and decided it would be best to simply sit back and watch for the time being. Maybe Tallis would confide in him soon.

Tallis had long gained his seat and begun his meal when he told his father about his run in with Remus. "I told him to come to our quarters after dinner. I didn't know what else to do" Tallis whispered, dreading his father's response. They hadn't discussed bringing Remus into the truth and he knew that his father disliked Remus.

Severus sighed. He had known that this would happen, sooner or later. His son may be a Slytherin but he still had a strong Gryffindor edge and he had known that his son would never give up the werewolf no matter how scared he actually was of the man. Severus had tried once to bring the topic of Remus up with his son shortly after that early conversation where Tallis revealed that he believed that Remus would abuse him or rape him. Tallis had closed off immediately and Severus had not attempted to discuss it again. As much as he disliked the werewolf on principle alone as one of the Marauders, he was actually somewhat pleased that his son was willing to fight his own demons so fiercely. He knew that it had been a difficult decision and that Tallis was still scared but he was still willing to tell Lupin the truth. "That sounds like the best solution, Tallis." Tallis blinked for a moment in shock. Well…that had gone well. "How are you going to tell him?"

"I had thought to share a few memories. It would be the quickest way."

"It is rather unbelievable in many ways. Just telling him might not be convincing. The memories should help. I'll get my pensieve out of our office on our way back. We can put the appropriate memories in it before he arrives." Tallis smiled at his father, clearly pleased that he was willing to set aside his differences with Remus for his son and give him his full support. Merlin, he really needed it now. The two men finished their meal quickly, and headed back to the dungeon to prepare for their meeting.

-

Next chapter: Remus finds out the truth and the stress gets to be too much for Tallis.


	32. Confusion

Chapter 32 

Remus paced in front of the Snape quarters, too worried to go in. He didn't understand what was going on and it was setting him on edge. He definitely recognized Lily's scent in Tallis but he couldn't smell James at all, which meant that it wasn't Harry. But he knew, for a fact, that Lily had only ever had one child. For Merlin's sake, he had been present at Harry's birth! The story simply didn't add up.

He finally gathered his courage and knocked on the door. He needed to solve this mystery. Much to his chagrin the door was opened by Severus Snape. He had rather hoped that his meeting would be alone with Lily's mystery baby. Severus ushered him into the rooms and hastily set up complex silencing charms and impenetrable barriers around the entire room. They couldn't risk anyone spying on this conversation. Tallis smiled hesitantly at Remus, the last tie he had to his mum and James, but he did not move forward to greet the man.

"I'm sure that you are very confused right now."

"I keep adding 2 and 2 and coming up with 5. I don't understand. I know that Lily Potter was your mother—"

He was cut off by Severus who took offense at Lily's married name. He was still irritated that James Potter had married his girlfriend and gotten to see his baby's birth. "Lily _Evans_ was his mother."

Tallis decided to intervene before a fight broke out. He knew that his Father and Remus could both be incredibly immature. "Perhaps it would be easiest if you saw a few memories. The first one is a memory that Albus Dumbledore shared with us not too long ago as well as the events following. It may…shock you but I think it might actually be the easiest way. Some of the things that have happened are simply unbelievable and it may help you to see it rather than hear the story."

"What exactly is it about?"

"It is a memory that the Headmaster shared with Tallis and I of a meeting with Lily Evans before she graduated. It was actually from a day or so before she announced her engagement to James Potter." Remus nodded at Severus' explanation although he was confused as to why Severus was involved in what was no doubt a very private memory of Lily.

"Would you like us to go with you or would you prefer to go on your own?" Tallis asked, well remembering how terrible it had been when he had first seen it and he at least had his father with him, although he had taken little comfort in his presence during the actual memory.

Remus shook his head. "I'll be fine on my own."

"If you change your mind simply end the memory and one of us will go with you to see it again." Remus nodded and lightly touched the silvery substance, instantly sucked in to another world. Severus and Tallis exchanged nervous looks. Much rested on how Remus reacted to this news. If he had a bad reaction he could always obliviate Remus and send him packing but Severus knew that doing such a thing would hurt Tallis immeasurably. He both loved and feared the werewolf, wanting to be close to him but scared to do anything that might make himself vulnerable.

The two Snapes sat in silence as they waited for Remus to reemerge. The memory was long: they had included everything from arriving at the Headmaster's office, to seeing the memory, and then their reaction and departure from the office—including the removal of the charm. It was an incredible amount of information but they weren't sure how else to do it. They felt that actually seeing Harry Potter have the charm removed revealing his current appearance as Tallis Snape might help Remus to accept everything. At least they had prepared Remus somewhat for the truth and he knew that if he needed support that Tallis and Severus were there.

Remus finally emerged from the memory clearly shaken. "Harry?" he whispered, tears streaming down his face. Tallis simply nodded at him. Remus pulled him into a tight hug, running his hand down his slim back and setting Tallis' already stretched nerves on end. Tallis pushed away like a wild thing and moved away as quickly as possibly, pressing his back firmly against the wall, breathing heavily. His eyes scanned the room nervously, darting from one dark corner to another, trying to find an escape route to get away from the two men. He was too far gone to even take comfort in his father, whose presence usually calmed him down.

Remus and Severus had stood when Tallis started to panic and both were unknowingly blocking the only doors to the room. Tallis slowly slid down the wall and huddled into a tiny ball, making himself as small as possible. His shoulders shuddered with repressed sobs and his terror hung thick in the air.

Remus looked confused but he remained silent at Severus' quick gesture. Severus started to speak softly, following the instructions he had received months ago. "Tallis, Tallis?" Tallis looked up hesitantly with bewildered eyes. Severus was relieved that Tallis remembered his new name. It was entirely possible that he would have forgotten it. "Do you know where you are?" Severus asked gently. Ron and Hermione had long ago told him how to best deal with these flashbacks but this was the first time that he had to actually talk his son back to reality. He first needed to make certain that Tallis was merely confused and not in a full-fledged flashback. If he didn't know where he was then it was just the confusion. If he did know, or rather, thought he knew that he was at the Dursley residence, then Severus needed to take far more precautions to figure out exactly what type of flashback it was that his son was experiencing and then work to end it without harming himself or his son.

He repeated the question when it looked as if Tallis wasn't answering. "Do you know where you are?" He was careful to maintain a calm and smooth voice, not wanting to upset him more.

Tallis looked up at Severus, bright green eyes sparkling with tears. He slowly shook his head but then looked scared as he awaited what seemed to him to be certain punishment for not knowing the correct answer. Severus sank to his knees but remained where he was, about ten feet away from Tallis. Remus remained standing, still in shock. "That's all right, sometimes it can be hard to remember" Severus said softly, trying to keep him calm. The scariest thing about these episodes was that Tallis had the fears of an abused child but the magical strength of Merlin himself. If he got too scared then all hell would break loose—literally.

"You're at Hogwarts. Do you remember Hogwarts?" Tallis' head cocked at the strange sounding word, clearly remembering something but not yet able to make all of the connections. "Hogwarts is a school for special students. You're safe here. There are lots of other students here: students just like you. Do you remember who I am?"

Tallis' eyes had strayed to Remus' tall figure and he was taken by panic again. His breath drew short as began to hyperventilate. "Focus on me, Tallis. Look just at me. Just over here. Ignore everything else. Just look at me," Severus said as urgently as he dared. Tallis finally heard his father's deep, silky voice and looked at him again, trying to block out the other images that ran through his head. "Do you remember who I am?" Severus repeated, hoping to bring his son back to reality.

Tallis looked relieved for a moment at this question but then the confusion settled in again. "You're my father?" He asked it as a question, clearly remembering two completely conflicting things. He both remembered that he was an orphan and remembered that he had a father and was unable to reconcile the contradictory memories.

Severus smiled reassuringly. "Yes, that's right. How about we change your clothes and get you tucked into bed?" Panic flashed on Tallis' face as he had an internal war with his vying memories. He couldn't remember whether fathers hurt their sons or helped them. Tears ran down his cheeks as he struggled to understand everything. Nothing made sense anymore. He just wanted it to make sense.

Severus cursed himself as he realized his mistake. Hermione had told him that she offered to help him to bed but that Tallis might panic if a man did. No male had ever tried that with him. Bill and Ron had always been too scared to do so. He should have known better than to make such a stupid mistake. He just hoped he could fix this before a full panic attack started—before his son lost his already tenuous hold on his magic.

Severus fought to keep his voice calm as he grew more nervous. Merlin, he had fucked up. "It's alright, Tallis. You don't need to change if you're comfortable. Sometimes its better to sleep in your clothes, isn't it?" Tallis nodded hesitantly, eyes still brimming with tears. "I like doing that too, sometimes. Do you remember where your bedroom is?" Tallis shook his head, tears slipping down his cheeks and into his long hair. He was just so confused. He needed help but he was too scared to ask for it. He didn't know whom he could trust. "It is right at the end of the hall. If you need me to help you then you can just call out to me and I'll come." Severus slowly stood and walked to the other side of the room, leaving the path to the hallway clear for his son. Tallis watched him warily as he slowly stood up and backed down the hallway, keeping the two men in sight at all times. He slipped into the darkness and Severus closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing heart and to swallow back the tears.

"What just happened?" Remus asked, clearly completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened.

Severus slowly turned to Remus, feeling incredibly old and worn out all of a sudden. "Do you know of my son's past with the muggles?"

Remus nodded. "Yes. They abused him, didn't they? When I first met him I could smell fresh blood. I convinced myself it wasn't true but when I saw that memory in the pensieve…"

Severus laughed bitterly. "Abuse was the least of it. The uncle raped him." Remus couldn't stifle his horrified gasp. Severus was silent for a moment as he realized how easily he had spilled such a carefully kept secret of his son's. He contemplated obliviating the werewolf but decided that he may as well continue. If any adult had a right to know then it would be this man: this self-proclaimed godfather of his son. Since Black had died Lupin had decided to take over the title. He decided to give the man a few basic facts but nothing more. If he wanted more information then he would have to gain Tallis' trust first. "He had done since Tallis was very, very young. Tallis has a phobia of touch and finds men incredibly threatening. Add to that the fact that you are in a father figure position much as his uncle was and his fear of you is even worse."

"But you're his father and you managed to calm him down" Remus pointed out reasonably.

"Precisely. _A Father._ A dream-figure who has haunted his fantasies since he was a toddler; someone who would take him away from the pain and humiliation and keep him safe from men such as his uncle…men who claim a parental role while acting as anything but a parent. In his mind I am completely different from an uncle or an older male friend."

Remus nodded, still in shock. "This was why when Dumbledore told you the truth he reacted so…so…" he faded away, trying to find the right words.

"Yes. I didn't understand his horror and disgust of Dumbledore at the time either. I learned a bit of the truth soon after and am still trying to put everything together to understand what that he went through with them." He paused for a moment, weighing his words carefully. "There are times that I no longer want to know everything; that I simply want to stop hearing more nightmarish details. It helps him though, to speak of it at times."

"But what just happened now? Why did he start acting like that?" Remus was still in too much shock to be able to put the pieces together himself.

Severus sighed. "Occasionally something sparks a flashback of sorts. Sometimes it is a full-blown flashback and sometimes it is more of what you saw here, complete disorientation and loss of self. He cannot differentiate between his memories and what is happening currently to know what is really going on and how old he is. He has no idea where or when he is."

Remus sat completely still in his chair, trying to understand everything. "Merlin, how had I ever missed all of that? I'm a terrible friend, aren't I? I betrayed James and Lily through this, through not knowing what was going on…through not helping," he whispered.

"No one knew. The Weasleys did what the could to help him as did Poppy."

"They knew? They knew and they didn't do anything?" Remus was growing hysterical.

"Calm yourself Lupin. They couldn't do anything. Dumbledore used a dark spell on them to silence them. They did what they could while staying within the restrictions."

"No wonder Harry was so eager to set aside his old life. No wonder he wanted to be your son so desperately." Remus buried his head in his hands. He was clearly in shock.

Severus felt a growing sense of irritation as the werewolf implied that the only reason Tallis wanted to be his son was because of how completely worthless the muggles were but he stamped down on his angry retort before he could say anything. Tallis would want him to be polite and he knew that Lupin was simply in shock and not entirely aware of what he was saying. He himself had experienced far worse shock. He could hardly blame the werewolf for a few poorly chosen words.

He did anyway. He was fully aware that he was holding Lupin to a different standard than he held himself but he couldn't bring himself to care. His own nerves were too shot to baby the werewolf. And frankly, Lupin had just heard the bare basics, not even the tip of what had really happened to his son. "Pull yourself together, damn it. You aren't going to do him any good sniveling there about what a failure you are. You wanted to be his godfather. Damn it, start _being_ one."

Remus sat up a bit straighter in his seat, shocked into compliance. Severus was entirely correct. As much as he wanted to have a good cry about how he was a failure he had more important things to do right now. He could put that off until later, until he was alone in his rooms where he could cry all he wanted to. Right now, he needed to focus on his godson. "Tell me what I need to know. Help me, please" he pleaded quietly. "I've lost them…all of them. I can't lose him too."

"You need to be careful around him," Severus said slowly, trying to figure out the most important things that Lupin needed to know—the things that wouldn't betray his son's trust too much more than he had already done. "Do not _ever_ touch him without him first initiating contact. That is what set him off today." Remus looked down at his hands with shock and regret, clearly pained at the idea that he had harmed Tallis so badly without even meaning to. Severus felt a twinge of pity for the man and decided to elaborate. "It was not entirely you Lupin, you were merely the catalyst. He has been stretched to the breaking point since he arrived. He cannot handle the amount of people that are constantly around him, brushing against him, watching him closely. Add to that the fact that he was already battling with his fear of you as a man and his desire to do what would make Lily proud and still befriend you. Frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner."

Bill walked into the rooms suddenly, having been given the password on Tallis' first day back. Severus and Remus looked up, surprised. "What's going on? Does Remus know now?"

"Yes," Severus said quietly. "Tallis had an episode."

"Flashback or confusion?" Bill was immediately business, wanting to know exactly what was going on with his lover. He himself had witnessed many such episodes and he knew that they were exhausting and terrifying for everyone involved. He hoped Severus had handled it well. He had evidently been here by himself for it. He couldn't imagine having had to deal with such a thing for the first time all alone. He at least had Ron there to help talk him through it when he had seen it for the first time. The first time he saw Tallis get confused like that was when he had tried to kiss him after a shower while Tallis was still only wrapped in a towel. He hadn't tried it since.

"Confusion. He's gone to bed. I'm not certain you should go in there until morning."

"Of course. I'll go visit Ron and Ginny and then come back later and sleep on the couch, if that's ok."

"Yes, yes of course, " Severus assured him. Remus looked fascinated by this new side of Severus that was actually friendly with Bill Weasley but he had the presence of mind to keep his fascination to himself, for now.

"I should probably go. May I come by in the morning to apologize to Har…Tallis?" Remus asked hesitantly.

"You'd better not" Bill said gently. "He prefers not to mention these episodes much and you'll just embarrass him." Remus looked devastated. "Don't worry. He is working hard to get over his fear of you…which I hope you know has nothing to do with you personally and everything to do with the role you were unceremoniously thrust into simply by being friends with Lily and James." Remus brightened slightly at this but he still looked incredibly disturbed. He had been worried that Tallis' fear of him was connected to his lycnathropy.

"I believe I should leave. Thank you for everything, Severus, Bill." Remus shuffled slowly from the room and shut the door behind him.

"Well, I guess I'll head off to the Tower for a bit. I'll come back around curfew, unless you need me sooner. Would you like for me to stay?"

"No, that will be fine. It is probably best to limit the amount of people in here for a while in case Tallis wakes up." Bill nodded and stood to go. He placed his hand briefly on Severus' shoulder, offering silent support. He didn't linger and quickly slipped from the room as well to head up to visit with his siblings.

Severus stood up wearily and made his way down the hall to look in on his son. He opened his Tallis' door and saw the empty bed. He panicked briefly but then started opening the doors to the rooms nearby, remembering the last time he hadn't been able to find his son. He wasn't in the bathroom or their office. He finally turned to his own room and opened the door, finding Tallis curled up on his bed, fast asleep. Clearly in his confusion he had forgotten where he slept and had simply followed his father's directions to go to the room "down the hall."

Severus smiled at the small boy and resisted the urge to touch his hair as he usually did. He was scared to wake Tallis up after everything that had happened. Instead, he settled himself down into one of the chairs near the fireplace and watched over his son, scared to close his eyes even for a second.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSD

At around six in the morning Tallis finally stirred, blinking his eyes blearily. His father immediately sat up straight in his chair. "How are you feeling?"

Tallis looked around himself cautiously. "Alright." He lay there in silence, studying his surroundings. He had seen his Father's room before of course but certainly never slept in it. He finally blurted out his question. "Why am I sleeping in your room?" He sounded completely bewildered, at a complete loss to explain his current surroundings.

"You got a bit confused last night. I told you to go to sleep and you ended up in here. I didn't want to move you."

Tallis nodded, taking it in. He knew what his father was talking about. Merlin, he had hoped he was over those episodes. His father clearly hadn't run screaming though so that was at least good. He had been worried about what his Father would do when he finally saw something like that…learned how messed up he really was. He had been convinced that his Father wouldn't want him anymore. He must have been wrong though because his Father didn't even seem angry with him, much less ready to give him back to the Dursleys. "You could have slept in my room at least. You couldn't have been comfortable in that chair."

"It was fine. I preferred it here," Severus said, choosing not to elaborate on his real reasons. Tallis well knew though that his father had preferred staying in the chair to watch him sleep rather than find comfort in another room. While part of him thought the man was insane, the larger part of him started to glow with warmth, a part that he had never known existed. His Father had worried about him. His father had sat up the night with him.

"I'm sorry," Tallis said quietly.

"Nothing to worry about. Are you ready for breakfast?" Severus said briskly. Tallis nodded and pushed the blankets back to get out of bed. He was embarrassed to notice that he still had his shoes on. It was a habit he had when he was younger that he had thought he had broken himself of. When he was young he had started wearing his sneakers to bed. He was always ready to run, always prepared to try to get away from the next time that Vernon came to his cupboard. He soon learned though, that running only made it worse and that he could never truly escape. When he gave up the tennis shoes his soul was nearly broken. He had accepted his fate.

It was the next morning that he had received his first letter from Hogwarts, giving him hope where he had none. He didn't start wearing the tennis shoes again but he did start a new way of fighting back, and the evidence of his achievement literally covered his skin as a trophy of his success. His tattoos were his new form of the sneakers: his latest attempt at protection.

If Severus noticed the shoes or understood the significance of them he didn't comment on them. He knew that Tallis needed some time to recoup before they began another heavy discussion. Tallis stood there, wringing his hands, clearly uncomfortable. He stared desolately at the bathroom. "Would you like to shower first?" Severus asked gently. Tallis nodded eagerly and slipped into the bathroom. It appeared that his compulsive washing was back in full force now. Toward the end of summer he had gotten it more under control and on many days he only took one shower. Severus had been pleased with his progress. Last night had set his son back immensely. Severus sighed heavily and scrubbed his face roughly with his hands. Merlin this was hard.

-

Next chapter: a secret meeting to make some potential plans to bring down Dumbles and the Dursleys. And a bit of sex. Yay sex!


	33. The Meeting

A/N: I am nearly certain that I reached the M rating with this chapter. Maybe not. Frankly, I have a hard time telling what those ratings really mean since they seem to differ a bit from website to website and author to author. Just thought I'd warn you. If you don't like boys having sex then I recommend skipping from Tallis entering the apartment until pretty much the end of the chapter. For those of us who do like it…enjoy! 

-

Chapter 33 

Severus looked around the assembled group of people and gave thanks that his son had so many brilliant friends. Bill Weasley, Poppy Pomfrey, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger all sat in the Snape sitting room, waiting to begin the meeting that Severus had called. He was certain that they all had canceled plans in order to be there since he didn't give them much notice. He had dropped by Lupin's office the evening before and the Infirmary immediately after, letting Poppy know that she would need to bring an hourly nurse in from St. Mungos as she did whenever she needed some additional help in the Infirmary or whenever she couldn't be there. He had simply sent the Gryffindors quick notes including the date and time and his son's most recent password—he was lucky that he had overheard his son talking about it the day before.

Tallis was out for the day. He was supervising a detention in the morning: one of his students and three of his Father's. He and Severus had agreed at the beginning of the year that they should try to schedule their detentions at the same time and then take turns observing so that each could limit the amount of time they would waste overseeing students do busy work. Tallis had volunteered to take Saturday detentions when his Father agreed to take the Friday night ones, freeing him up to go on a date with Bill. They hadn't been able to leave campus for safety concerns but they had dinner together at the top of the astronomy tower under the stars followed by some good old-fashioned teenage snogging. Tallis had never made out with anyone in the tower and Bill told him that everyone needed to do it at least once.

Severus knew that after the detentions his son planned to meet Draco for lunch and some flying in the afternoon. Tallis was working hard to be friends with Draco. It was very difficult for him to put himself out there that much, to agree to eat lunch with someone and to go out with them later. Severus was pleased with the plan not only because it would help his son on many levels but because it also got him out of their rooms so that he could have this meeting.

No one was certain exactly how long Tallis would be gone though so they needed to be as quick as possible. He hastily put up silencing charms on the entire apartment and impenetrable barriers at every door. He couldn't chance anyone hearing any of this. There were too many people on both sides of the war who would profit from this information. Hell, even those who _weren't_ on a specific side of the war would profit from it.

He cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "I have called you here today because I feel that there is a need to advance our somewhat hastily made plans. As most of you know, Bill had proposed to Tallis some time ago that we kill Harry Potter and frame the muggles. The court trial that would ensue would undoubtedly expose Dumbledore's manipulations, ensuring that both Dumbledore and the muggles would be sent to Azkaban immediately with life sentences at the very least." Everyone nodded. This was all news to Remus who had only recently found out that Tallis was Harry Potter but he definitely approved of any plan that would simultaneously hurt Dumbledore and the bastards who hurt his godson.

"Tallis decided to put the actual implementation of this plan off for a bit out of fear of losing Dumbledore too quickly. Unfortunately, Tallis was right: we _do_ need the old man leading the Order and we will no doubt need the Order to end this war. We should also remember that Tallis has yet to actually _agree_ to this plan. We will not enforce any part of it, especially anything that could lead to a trial with the muggles, without his full knowledge and consent." Everyone nodded solemnly. They all knew a bit of what happened with the muggles but they knew that none of them were in any way equipped to fully empathize with what Tallis would face were a trial to ensue—even if he had his new identity to hide behind.

"However, I wish to ensure that everything has been perfectly arranged in order to snap the plan in place with little to no warning if need be. This will not be a powerful move if when we decide to implement it we need months to prepare. If we try to rush it then we will leave glaring holes in the process and we will be exposed, something that I do not wish to risk as long as Tallis is content with hiding the truth. Therefore, I wish to make all necessary preparations now. Does anyone know of anything we may have to do that we have not already done to protect Tallis' identity beyond any doubt?"

His words were met with silence as everyone sat deep in thought.

Hermione broke the silence. "I don't mean to state the obvious but we have the rather large problem of…well, the body. Not to mention the muggles will be able to testify truthfully that they didn't kill him. I assume that veritaserum works on muggles?" Severus nodded, jotting down some notes.

Ron turned a few shades paler. "We also have the problem that they will clearly remember our, uh, visit. And the…um, evidence of the visit no doubt still remains. Muggles can't fix that, can they?" Severus shook his head in the negative. Magic might be able to repair the damage but muggles could never do anything beyond a few surface treatments to make everything look as it once had. There was no way for them to truly fix what Severus had done.

Remus looked interested in this. "What visit? What happened?" He had been allowed to join the meeting today because he had made it abundantly clear to Severus that he placed his godson's wellbeing over any prior loyalties to Dumbledore. Like Poppy, he would side with Tallis no matter what side he decided to stand on, even if he chose to stand on his own.

"I decided to pay the muggles a small visit to thank them for their care of my son and gain official custody of him in case Dumbledore tried to take him from me. The muggle spoke one time too many and I castrated him," Severus said blandly, offering no details or explanation for his actions.

Poppy looked startled. She hadn't heard all of the details. Hermione too was a bit shocked even though she had long known that her Professor and the Weasley boys made a trip to see the muggles. She had always assumed that at least some violence ensued but she had never thought it would be more than a thorough beating. She hadn't expected anything that…permanent. Remus looked pleased. Evidently the wolf in him was satisfied with this punishment, at least as a starting point. "What did he say to set you off, may I ask?"

Severus refused to answer, not wanting the words to even come out of his mouth. He instead focused on the parchment in front of him, looking over the few notes that he had written down so far. Ron stepped in. "He implied that the Professor enjoyed the same sort of relationship with Har…Tallis as he had. He proceeded to offer him advice for, well…bedroom advice. It didn't sit well with Professor Snape." The women's shock at the Potion Master's actions was replaced by repulsion and a grim satisfaction that Severus had done as he had. A feral growl slipped from Remus at the mention of the muggle's words and he too looked immensely pleased with the rather fitting punishment.

Severus cleared his throat again. "All right. We are faced with creating a body, wiping memories and replacing them with memories of them murdering Tallis, at least potentially. There is a potential alternative but I am not certain it would be feasible. It would be very difficult but we could always create a golem and allow them to actually 'kill' Harry. Then we wouldn't need to fabricate memories."

"Making such a complex memory that was good enough to throw off any suspicion would be near impossible" Bill put in. "The small ones I made for the students were damn hard and they were nothing compared to creating a murder. Not to mention I don't fancy spending months making a convincing murder scene starring my boyfriend, especially knowing some of the things that they did to him that I would need to recreate. If there is any way to do this without making me create such a memory, please, please do it," he begged. He knew exactly what the muggles often did to Tallis and he was nauseated even thinking about recreating that on a daily basis for months to come.

"Sounds like a golem will be the best plan, regardless of how difficult it may be," Remus said. "If Tallis agrees then we'll also have his help and he is incredibly powerful." Hermione and Bill exchanged looks at that statement. No one knew the true extent of Tallis' power except for those who were present on the last day that he had tested it. A golem should be well within his abilities, even one good enough to fool the ministry if need be.

"Yes. Anything else?"

Poppy looked nervous for a moment, clearly uncomfortable with what she needed to say. She knew that it was incredibly personal but she was also aware that the people currently in the room were the closest people to family that her young friend had. They would help and support him in any way that they could and would be very discrete about it. "I don't wish to embarrass him at all but his scarring will be a problem."

"How bad is it?" Hermione and Remus asked at the same time.

"Bad. If anyone even looks at Harry Potter's medical chart and then does a scan of Tallis Snape then they will know without a doubt that they are the same person."

Severus closed his eyes. "What exactly needs to be fixed to avoid this? What scars can be convincingly said to be merely similar and what will give him away?"

"Well, at the very least I will need to vanish and regrow his left thigh bone, four of his ribs and almost the entirety of his left hand. It would probably be prudent to go ahead and do his right collarbone as well."

"Why those specific bones?" Severus cut in. "He's had quite a few more ones broken than that." He had studied his son's medical file closely and knew that the short list of bones that Madame Pomfrey wanted to regrow didn't even begin to touch the list of bones that he had broken.

"Many of Tallis' broken bones were clean breaks: they healed well even without proper medical attention, leaving little sign of a prior break. All of the ones that I listed were either broken more than three times each or else broken very badly and he received no medical attention at all. The bones re-knit poorly since they were healed by an untrained child's magic and nature herself."

Everyone shuddered for a moment, realizing that the breaks that she spoke of had all happened in a boy younger than eleven years old. Tallis had healed his broken bones with literally no magical training at all. They had been done poorly but they had been done nonetheless. "Once he got to Hogwarts I was able to help him, even if it was sometimes a few months after the initial break. There are ways to help straighten out a partially healed bone and to strengthen it. The right collar bone was my first attempt at that procedure and I was unable to heal it properly…the damage had been too great for my skill level at the time and by the time I was proficient at it the bone was long past the time that such a procedure would be helpful. Anything that happened before that though will be even more suspect."

Madame Pomfrey continued, trying to adopt a more clinical attitude in order to get the information out. She kept her eyes trained on the mini medical file that she had compiled from Tallis' enormous full one for the purposes of this meeting. "His left leg has been broken in four places, making it instantly recognizable. The ribs I mentioned earlier were all crushed at the same time, showing evidence that a single force had done it. It would be impossible for anyone else to coincidentally have the same break pattern there. His left hand was crushed by a blunt object a number of years ago. Again, this would be instantly recognizable. His right collarbone was broken in three places and healed very poorly because his magic was focused on healing more pressing needs. We would have needed to regrow his left arm but we have Mr. Lockhart to thank for doing that for us." She sighed heavily in the shocked silence that followed her litany of abuses. She knew that she needed to continue. "I will, of course, need to do something about the heavy scarring in his anus."

"Why didn't you do that before?" Hermione asked quietly. "Why leave him with the scars, especially the rape ones?" She sounded desolate. The list of abuses that the mediwitch had just made had shocked her deeply. She had always known that it was terrible for her friend when he was with his family but even with the information she had been given she had never been able to imagine it. Her family life had never been anything but happy and loving. She had, of course, known that her friend kept a lot from her but she had still assumed that she knew a fair portion of the details. She was quickly discovering that what he had confided in her was not even a fraction of what had really happened in that house.

"This kind of treatment should only be done once in a lifetime over a specific area, particularly one like that, and especially considering how bad the scarring was. I didn't want to do it earlier than necessary because if his uncle got to him again then I wouldn't be able to ever do anything about any new tears that were made. But now Severus has kindly taken care of the man for us and I am sure that Mr. Weasley can take due care with Tallis for the next few months while the tissue is still young so I am prepared to offer Tallis the treatment." Bill blushed deeply and Ron and Hermione snickered quietly.

Remus hid his smile behind his tea. He wasn't as close to Tallis as he wanted to be but the relationship that they did have was more of one between close friends or brothers regardless of the differences in their ages. It was not particularly paternal. Tallis had always shied away from developing that sort of relationship with him. He had assumed it was because he had lost Sirius but now he understood the true reasoning behind the boy's actions. He had no desire to push him on it and was content with their friendship as it currently stood.

"Alright then," Severus said, clearly wanting the conversation to move away from how rough his son's boyfriend may or may not get with him in bed. "Poppy will perform the treatments as soon as possible. There is nothing else that could be used to expose him?"

"Nothing from a medical standpoint. He still has the same blood type but that is common enough that it won't reveal anything. And you masked his signature, didn't you?"

"Yes, nearly a month ago. It will take another eleven days for any trace of the potion to have run through his system and then we will be completely safe in that regard. If in the next eleven days though anyone questions it and does a blood test then they will find trace amounts of the potion present and know that his current magical signature is not the one that he has always had." He had clearly been keeping a calendar running in his head, worried about making it through to safety.

"Tallis never told me that there was any danger of that," Bill said, worried now that he knew they could still be caught. "I thought once he took the potion he would be fine."

"You know he doesn't like you to worry, Bill. I'm sure everything will be fine. It is only a bit longer, after all. Dumbledore doesn't seem even remotely suspicious either" Hermione comforted him.

"Alright. Anything else?"

"His scent" Remus said suddenly. "That's how I knew that something was going on. I could smell Lily's scent mixed with someone else. I guess we won't risk too much though because I don't believe that too many werewolves were ever close enough to Lily to have taken her scent and that they would remember it after all these years. Werewolves generally only remember the scent of family and very close friends for that long. It even took _me_ a while to place it and she was my best friend."

"How many other werewolves did Lily know?" Severus asked, growing nervous. If Lupin had discovered his son so quickly then someone else could too.

"None that I know of. If she had been near another werewolf while we were at school I should have known of it since I would have picked up on the scent immediately. But there were those few months that they were living in Potter manor and then when they went into hiding. When they were in the manor I only saw them every week or so and the scent could have faded by then, had anyone been there. I really don't know. I doubt that anyone could expose him through that but it is within the realm of possibility."

"What can we do about that though?" Poppy asked. "I've never heard of changing a scent."

"You can't. There are spells to mask it for a short time but nothing to change it. I'll teach Tallis the spells as soon as possible so that he has them."

They heard Tallis' bright voice outside the door, calling out a goodbye to Draco. Everyone immediately tensed. They hadn't realized so much time had passed. Remus banished the food and tea things while Severus lifted the silencing charms and impenetrable spells. Ron quickly pushed everyone into the kitchen and they stood there silently, hoping that Tallis wouldn't discover them. They wanted to make all of their plans and then inform Tallis that they were ready to move a bit further. Tallis would object to them putting so much time and effort into protecting him. He still had too little self worth to understand that they didn't mind the extra work if it meant that he would be safe.

They had done similar things with working on the Veyle Academy cover up. If Tallis knew the amount of work that everyone had put into that then he would have stopped them from continuing. This way he only saw the final few steps and thought that it wasn't too difficult. He hated the thought of anyone going out of their way to help him.

Ron decided to not take any chances on Tallis discovering them in the kitchen and he shoved Bill toward the door, with a hissed instruction to "keep him distracted." Bill fought a blush, knowing exactly how he planned to distract his boyfriend and also knowing that his boyfriend's father and godfather were in the very next room. He'd just have to move him to the bedroom as quickly as possible.

Tallis opened the door to the apartment and looked around the empty sitting room. Bill walked out of the kitchen, much to Tallis' surprise. "What are you—" He was cut off by an aggressive kiss as Bill pulled him tightly against his body, hands reaching down to stroke Tallis' firm ass. Tallis moaned softly into the kiss and started pulling Bill's shirt off. He managed to get it off in record time and he tossed it away from them as Bill moved his attention to his earlobe, worrying it between his teeth. Tallis pulled hungrily at Bill's long hair, begging for another kiss. He happily obliged, snaking a hand under Tallis' shirt and lightly brushing against his nipples. Tallis moaned again, louder. "My father?"

"Out" Bill said shortly, not elaborating at all. He twisted Tallis' rosy nipples harder, eliciting a deep moan. Tallis closed his eyes for a moment, relishing in the slightly rougher touches. "Open your eyes" Bill roughly said making Tallis force his eyes open immediately. He hated to do it but he knew that when he was more demanding like this that Tallis was in greater danger of slipping.

Bill spared a quick thought for the men and women in the other room, hoping that they couldn't hear anything but knowing that they likely could. There wasn't even a door to shut between the two rooms. "Bill, please" Tallis moaned. "Just fuck me here. I can't wait." Bill thought frantically. If Severus were truly gone he wouldn't have spared a second thought about having sex in the sitting room. Unfortunately, Tallis knew that, too. He needed to think of a good reason why they couldn't. He knew that saying he wanted to use the bed would be entirely too weak an excuse and Tallis would know that something was going on.

He spun Tallis around, pressing his slim back against his chest, pulling his ponytail to twist his head to the side. He attacked the offered neck with fervor, kissing and biting indiscriminately, making Tallis moan even louder. He always had been rather vocal. "No, I rather think I would prefer to take you howling over your desk. Your office is entirely too boring. It needs a good fuck to liven it up." He slowly unzipped Tallis' pants and slid his hand inside, lightly stroking his already painfully hard member. Tallis whimpered at the images that Bill's words evoked, thrusting into his hand. "Office. Now" he growled out, pushing Tallis toward the door. Tallis rushed down the hall to his office, stripping out of his clothes as he went and dropping them in his rush to be naked. Bill slipped off his belt and shoes, discarding them along the way. They made it to the office and slammed the door shut.

The group in the kitchen emerged cautiously, faces flushed. "Well" Ron said hesitantly. "It seemed a good idea at the time…"

Severus flushed a bit brighter and pointedly stepped over Bill's discarded shirt that they had seen flying through the air a few minutes earlier. "Well Weasley, you just ruined my office forever."

"Me?" Ron squeaked. "How was I to know they were such kinky buggers? I thought he'd take him to his room like any normal person."

Hermione started laughing quietly, Remus eventually joining in. "I guess it is fortunate that neither of you has office hours today" Hermione finally got out.

"Can you imagine some poor student walking in on that?" Remus howled through his laughter, Poppy and Ron finally joining in as well. Severus was the only one who was still completely unamused, although if truth be told he _did_ find the situation slightly humorous. He just wished he didn't share the same office that Bill was currently servicing his son in.

Everyone quickly made their goodbyes, trying to ignore the clothing scattered through the room and hallway and slipped out of the apartment. Severus decided to follow suit and went to his private lab to work on a few potions.

-


	34. Let's Talk About Sex

Chapter 34 

Bill sat in Tallis' large desk chair with Tallis on his lap, leaning bonelessly back into his warm chest. Bill was absentmindedly running his fingers lightly over his small lover's tight abs and hips, tracing the tattoos that were there. "Tallis?" he asked quietly. Tallis murmured an inarticulate response letting Bill know he was listening. "Why won't you top?"

Tallis' body immediately went rigid. He started to push away from Bill, trying to stand up. Bill tightened his hold on him. "I'm sorry love, you don't need to answer that. I…its fine. I'm sorry." Tallis settled down again but still seemed poised for flight. Bill quietly ran his fingers through his small lover's hair to calm him some more, cursing himself for ruining their post orgasmic glow. The silence remained for a few more minutes, neither one willing to break it. Tallis was clearly still tense.

Finally, Bill decided to explain why he had brought it up. "You don't ever have to if you don't want to, I just…I was just curious is all. And if you wanted to and weren't saying or doing anything for some reason then I wanted to be sure that you knew that it was ok. I'm sorry."

Tallis was still clearly nervous and he didn't reply. They sat in silence, each one buried in their thoughts. When Tallis broke the silence it was for a completely different topic. "Do you have any plans for tomorrow yet?"

Bill repressed a sigh. Looks like he wouldn't be getting any kind of an answer today. He knew that Tallis would talk about it when he could but he was still curious. Never once, in two years, had Tallis even implied that he wanted to switch positions. It was rather odd that he didn't even want to _try_ it. It would be one thing if they had tried it and Tallis decided that he preferred to bottom but he wouldn't even do that. He himself preferred to top but he wanted to make sure that Tallis was satisfied in their relationship. He shoved his concerns aside though, deciding to deal with it when Tallis was ready to do so. "Nothing really. Do you want to do something?"

"I haven't gotten to really see Hermione or Ron since school started. I thought we might be able to go on a picnic or something, if you want."

"That sounds great. I'll sit at the Gryffindor table at dinner tonight and ask them. Do you want to sit with us?"

Tallis sighed and stood up, beginning to transfigure some clothes out of spare parchment as none of his had made it into the office with them. He'd change into real clothes once he was back in his bedroom but he didn't want his Father to see him coming out of their office stark naked. "I'd like to but Father recommended not doing that, at least at first. If I regularly ate at the Slytherin table it wouldn't be so odd to see me there for a meal or two but I've only eaten there once before with Draco, and that was for a late lunch today when the room was nearly cleared. The Slytherins will flip if I start eating with Gryffindors when I haven't really eaten with them yet. I need to wait a bit more to be safe."

Bill nodded and pulled on his trousers, the only item of clothing that he was wearing when he entered the office. "That's ok. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to go out together tomorrow. I'll let you know what they say when we get back from dinner."

"Tell them hi for me. Maybe we can plan on a time to meet in the Chamber when we see them tomorrow. Father still hasn't seen it yet so I'll need to find a time to bring him down there but then it should be fine. We'll be able to see each other more regularly then."

"I know you miss them love. Don't worry, we'll figure something out tomorrow during our picnic." He leaned down to give Tallis one last quick kiss before opening the door to reenter the apartment.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Severus was still working in his private lab off of their sitting room when Tallis entered, hovering in the doorway nervously. "Come on in, Tallis." Tallis took a few steps further into the lab and shut the door behind himself. He stood there, wringing his hands in his shirt and shifting his weight nervously. Severus began to prepare himself mentally for whatever his son wished to talk about. He continued to decant the potion he had just finished, allowing his son some time to gather himself together. He had decided to make another batch of his son's vitamin enhancement potion since he was running low. He still wanted Tallis to take the potion every day until he was convinced that his body was processing food correctly and could thrive without the potion.

"May I talk to you?" Tallis whispered, clearly nervous.

"Of course, anytime you want. What did you want to talk about?" Severus believed he had himself fully braced for anything he could possibly bring up. His son whispered something that was completely unintelligible. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Severus asked.

Tallis blushed lightly and spoke up only slightly. Severus still had to strain to hear him. "Sex."

Severus' hold on the vial he had been filling tightened suddenly and he crushed the small vial in his hands. He cursed quietly and began cleaning it up, tossing the shards of glass into the trash bin and vanishing the spilled potion while casting a quick healing spell on his cut hand. Merlin, he had not been prepared for that. Oh gods, he was definitely not ready for this one. When he had heard that his son was already sexually active he had eventually been thrilled when he realized that it got him out of the awkward sex talk that all parents evidently had to have with their children. He did not know how to deal with this. "Yes, well…what did you want to know?" he finally said, voice slightly higher than usual due to nerves.

Tallis blushed darker and his hands nearly wrung themselves off. Severus realized that he could deal with this as he dealt with other awkward conversations: comfortable chairs and a bottle of liquor. Probably not the best example to be giving his seventeen-year old son but frankly, these kinds of talk usually needed a stiff drink. He recovered his composure at the mere thought of a helpful glass of alcohol to ease his way into the awkward conversation. "Let's adjourn to the sitting room, shall we?" He left the rest of the mess in the lab, deciding that this conversation clearly needed to happen immediately. If he put it off, even to just clean up, his son might bolt. Whatever he wanted to ask he was clearly worried about and needed to talk it out with him.

Tallis nodded gratefully, glad for the reprieve, however tiny it may be. He followed his father out to their sitting room and he watched as his Father poured two large glasses of whiskey, evidently his preferred drink. He passed a glass over to Tallis and sat down himself. Tallis gratefully drank for a while, trying to calm down. He wanted some advice and he didn't know who else to go to. He had been torn over speaking with his Father about it but he certainly wasn't comfortable speaking with Ron about it and Bill was definitely out of the question, as was Remus, albeit for different reasons. Hermione and Poppy were completely out of the question. There was no way he could speak to a woman about it. That left him with his Father.

"What did you want to know, Tallis?" Severus finally said after about ten minutes of silence.

Tallis looked both embarrassed and humiliated all at once. "It's nothing. I didn't mean to bother you. It's fine. I'll just go."

"I wasn't doing anything important Tallis. We can talk about anything you know. Really, there's no need to censor your thoughts with me. What's the matter?"

Tallis settled back down in his chair and took a long sip of whiskey, coughing lightly as it burned its way down his throat. He set the glass back down on the table and stared at his hands again, slowly starting to wring them once more. "I'm afraid to top" he finally blurted out, evidently startling both his Father and himself with his admission. Frankly, he wasn't certain he would have the stones to say it until the words simply flew out of his mouth.

Severus wasn't entirely certain what to say to that. After a short pause where he tried to assemble his thoughts into some semblance of order, he gave up and asked the question that had immediately flown into his head when he had heard his son's words. "You haven't ever topped? Not even once?"

"No" Tallis whispered.

"Do you know why you are scared of it then?" Severus couldn't begin to imagine a reason for this. He would have understood if his son were afraid to be on the bottom due to his history but a fear of topping was incomprehensible to the man.

Tallis was quiet for a long time. Severus could feel that his son was trying to sort his own feelings on the matter out as well as decide how best to talk about it. "I'm scared I'll be like _him_" he finally whispered.

No need to ask who 'him' was. His son's fear became clear. Severus sighed. "Tallis, son, you're nothing like him and never will be. You are in no danger of being like him." Tallis shrugged his shoulders, unconvinced. This was evidently something he had been worrying about for quite a while. "Tallis. You are not your uncle. You will never be like that creature."

"But what if I am?" The desperation in his son's voice almost broke Severus' heart.

He decided to approach the situation with as much rationality as possible. "Have you ever taken pleasure in hurting someone else? Do you enjoy debasing others? In forcing them to do your will?" Tallis shook his head at each question.

"But what if I hurt him? What if I don't mean to but I do?"

"He has shown you how to properly prepare your partner, hasn't he?" Tallis nodded. "You'll just need to do the same. Bill will tell you if he isn't ready." Severus tried desperately to shove his extreme discomfort away. His son needed to talk about this and clearly he had been chosen as the best person to consult regardless of the fact that he had never had sex with another man and so couldn't speak from practical knowledge. He knew he needed to just suck up his embarrassment and give some halfway decent advice to his scared son.

"Maybe." Tallis still sounded doubtful.

"I truly don't think you will have anything to worry about. Plenty of men top all the time in their relationships with other men and women and never turn into rapists." Tallis shuddered almost violently at the word. Severus pushed on. "You need to remember that your uncle, that all of that family, was the exception to the norm, not what can be expected. Your uncle had perverse sexual desires that hinged on his enjoyment of children and his thrill in forcing others to his will. You are not attracted to either of those things, are you?" Tallis shook his head quickly. Neither children nor unwilling partners had ever seemed remotely sexual to him. "What you do desire is completely normal and healthy."

"Did you ever worry about it?" Severus gave him a confused look, trying to figure out exactly what his son was asking. "Did you ever worry that you would hurt mum…or anyone else you've ever been with?"

Severus sighed. While his honest answer would be a completely unqualified 'no' he wasn't certain it was best to give that to his son. He didn't want to make him feel more abnormal. "It is an understandable fear in your situation but I still believe it is one you can safely set aside. The very fact that you are worrying about it tells me that you won't have a problem."

"But did you?" Tallis persisted.

Severus sighed again. Evidently he would not be put off by his partial answer. "No, I never worried about it. But you cannot measure your experiences against my own, Tallis," he hurried to reassure him. "You move at your own pace and that is all that anyone can ask of you. Everyone is different and everyone faces different demons. My fear is abusing the dark arts. I feel their pull every day and must consciously push myself away from them. I doubt that you will ever feel the pull in remotely the same way that I do just as I may never feel the same fears that you have. For me, my weakness is the darker side of magic. For you it is the fear of having and abusing your power. An admirable concern, especially in a wizard as magically strong as you are."

"So you don't think I'm a freak?" Tallis whispered, still uncertain.

"No, I don't think you are anything but a young man who is struggling to adjust to his constantly changing life. You can take that role when you are ready to. Don't force yourself. And don't compare yourself to others. You cannot measure yourself against others in any accurate way. Are you a failure if you don't top for another six months? Another year? Ever? Am I a failure if I use one dark spell in the next year? For already having made a dark potion recently?"

Tallis looked startled as he realized that his Father had slipped into his own weakness willingly in order to protect him. The magical signature-altering potion had been dark in nature and Severus had insisted on doing it on his own, not wanting to expose his son to dark magic. "No, you are not at all a failure" Tallis said earnestly. "You had your reasons."

"Precisely. And you have your reasons for whatever you choose to do or not to do. Do not measure yourself against impossible standards. Make the choices that you are comfortable with and you will be fine." Tallis nodded and finished his drink.

The two sat in silence for a bit. Severus suddenly realized that it was entirely possible that Tallis hadn't spoken with anyone about this, ever. That couldn't be good. "Have you explained any of this to Bill yet?"

Tallis shook his head. "I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure. I just…I don't know. It's embarrassing. What kind of a man is afraid to top? I just…I know he wouldn't laugh at me but I just wanted to have everything sorted out in my own head before I told him, you know?"

"I understand. But you should think about explaining it sometime in the near future. He deserves to know what is going on. It isn't good to keep things like this from someone who shares your bed. He has a right to know." Tallis nodded.

"Thank you" he said quietly. "For all of this. I…I didn't know who else…" he drifted off, not knowing how to finish his sentence.

Severus understood. "It is fine. You know that I am always there for you to talk to whenever you need me, about anything you need. There is nothing that you cannot tell me about." Tallis nodded his thanks again and quickly left the room to return to his bedroom and think about their conversation.

Severus sat in the darkened room, turning the conversation over in his mind. He hoped he had done all right. This was the first time his son had turned to him for fatherly advice and, while he had been rather startled and nervous at first he hoped it had been helpful for Tallis. He wanted him to truly feel comfortable coming to him with anything. Now that the conversation was over he was slightly proud that Tallis had chosen to come to him to talk about sex. Not many kids would choose their parent over their friend and, as awkward as it had been at times, he was thrilled that Tallis trusted him enough to do so.

He looked at his pocket watch and sighed. Quite a bit of time had passed while he sat and thought through their conversation. It was nearly time for dinner. He wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with the Great Hall right now and his son was probably still a bit embarrassed that he had just had that conversation with his Father. He sighed and stood up to go ask Tallis what he wanted to do. He knocked lightly on his son's door. "Tallis?"

"Yes?" Tallis called out.

Severus entered to see his son curled up on his bed reading yet another book. "It is dinner time. Do you wish to go to the Great Hall or would you prefer to stay here?"

"Can we stay here?"

"Certainly. Dumbledore likes us to be present for two meals a day when possible. We only made breakfast there today but many of the days since we've come to school we've been there for all three. He shouldn't care too much if we decide to stay in."

Tallis smiled. I would prefer that, if you don't mind."

"Certainly. I'll go order us some dinner. Any preferences?" Tallis shook his head. "I'll have them send up some of what they're serving in the Hall. It should be here momentarily."

"I'll be out soon." Tallis smiled as his Father left. He could get used to this whole having a father thing. It was nice having someone he could talk to when he was confused. He felt a lot better after their talk. Maybe he would try to explain things to Bill tonight. Or soon, at least.

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	35. Talking With Draco

A/N: Someone questioned why Tallis would wish to speak with Sev about his problem in the last chapter. Frankly, it never seemed that odd to me to go to a parent about it. My relationship with my parents is pretty close and my best friend actually went shopping with her mother when she bought her first true lingerie for use with her boyfriend and proceeded to ask for detailed advice. Yes, people do actually exist who have that type of relationship with their parents (perhaps not as close as my friend and her mother, I'll admit they are, perhaps, slightly outside the norm).   
Frankly, the topic that Tallis was talking about _needed_ an adult perspective. A kid just couldn't have cut it. It he was asking for help on how to give a great blow job then, by all means, he would have been speaking with another kid. But advice for how to get over a trauma remotely like what Tallis has been through simply couldn't have been handled well by a seventeen year old kid. 

Also, someone asked permission to archive my fic on their site. I am touched that you would ask! By all means, please post it or rec it at will…you can never have too many readers! If you need me to email you my Word formatted chapters I unfortunately can't do that right now because my email has been a bit spotty recently. I actually haven't been able to open my account for two weeks. Hopefully you can cut and paste or do some sort of linking. Again, it is an honor that you wish to do it. Thank you!

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Chapter 35 

Draco and Tallis were slowly making the rounds late in the evening. Draco, as a prefect, had hall duty at night and Tallis, as a professor, was supposed to do so as well. They had decided to walk together tonight.

"So, two weeks into the semester…how do you feel it has been going?" Draco asked Tallis.

"Pretty well. The students all seem to be learning at about the pace I had hoped for. My Father seems pleased with their progress. He's been reading random assignments from my first years to make sure that I am grading to the same scale that he would. We were worried that students would score much higher in my class and then be unprepared for his later on. Our second years are doing well also. They seem to enjoy having us team-teach. Or maybe they just like not having my Father for every lesson. How are your classes going?"

"Pretty boring, as usual. The workload is high but most of it just seems like busy work, nothing terribly useful. It's rather frustrating. And people just won't shut up about Harry Potter! Even the teachers are talking about it. If I read one more story about 'our brave martyr' in the Prophet I just may scream."

"I don't read the papers. Is it that bad?" Tallis asked, growing a bit concerned. He had finally decided over the summer that he didn't particularly give a damn about what the wizarding world thought but he still didn't want them to panic. Honestly, he had been hoping for an adverse reaction to Harry Potter's withdrawal, thinking that they might call him a coward for running. He thought that if they turned against him badly enough then maybe they would eventually leave him alone. Unfortunately, they had taken the whole 'beloved martyr' approach with the whole mess.

"It's in the paper every bloody day. Speculations about where he could be, whom he is with, what he is doing and so on. It's enough to drive anyone crazy."

"I can see that. I seem to miss the brunt of it since few people really try to talk to me."

"Why is that? I mean, why don't you talk to more people?"

Tallis shrugged uncomfortably. He had rather opened himself up to that one. "Being near a lot of people makes me uncomfortable. I prefer to have a few close friends and just leave it at that."

Draco watched him carefully. "What's so bad about it?" he asked, trying not to push but still wanting an answer. He had already noticed his friend's fear of entering the Great Hall by himself and he had seen that Tallis grew more nervous the longer he was in a public situation. Perhaps he could get some answers to the growing list of questions he had about Tallis Snape. "Why does it make you so uncomfortable?"

"It just does, alright?" Tallis snapped. His shoulders slumped and he sighed audibly. "I'm sorry Dray, I didn't mean to snap at you. They just make me uncomfortable is all. Big crowds have always made me nervous and all of the attention is nerve wracking. You try eating up at that head table with everyone watching every move you make! It's terrible—it's like you're some sort of exotic caged animal!" He tried to turn it into a weak joke but it was clear to Draco that his discomfort was caused by more than just people looking at him too much. It was equally clear that he was not ready to talk about it yet.

"So…" Draco said, searching for a new topic. "Did you play Quidditch at your old school?"

"We were too small for true Quidditch but we got together some pick-up games a few times a month."

"What part did you play? Chaser?"

"We pretty much switched around a lot. I was better at Chaser than some of the other positions but we all took turns playing everything. It kept the games from getting repetitive. My first year at the Academy the six of us in my class were the only ones in the school since it was brand new. After that we gained five or six a year but even by my last year we still had less than thirty students. It would be way too easy to get boring."

"That must have been odd going to such a small school, especially that first year with only five of you there. Where is the Academy?"

"On my cousin Rianna's manor grounds. She built a small secondary manor on the grounds so that she didn't have to give up her own house for it."

"I didn't know that she was your cousin."

"Well, I use the term loosely. We're more like fourth cousins three times removed or something like that so most people don't realize we are related. I don't really know. She's pretty close to my Father though so I've always just called her cousin. She's only about Bill's age."

"I've never met her. I'm surprised that you guys were able to keep your existence a secret for so long with so many people knowing."

"Well, most of the kids at the Academy were relatives or else Weasleys. A Snape would of course protect me and just telling the Weasley bunch that Voldemort would kill me if they talked about me kept them quiet. You know how they are."

Draco smirked. "That lot is firmly entrenched in the side of the light."

Tallis looked up sharply at his friend. "And you are not?"

Draco looked a bit uncomfortable. "I guess I am. I definitely disagree with the Dark Lord's methods and I am beginning to see problems with his mantra, especially as recently he has been more obsessed with offing Harry Potter than with protecting blood purity. Honestly, what kind of Dark Lord can't even kill one kid? Not terribly inspiring. I just don't trust Dumbledore much."

Tallis roughly tugged Draco in close to him and down enough for him to hear his harsh whisper. "Even the walls listen here. Don't mention that again outside of our rooms." He released him and walked on, Draco trailing behind a moment in shock.

"I understand. Sorry…I didn't mean to endanger anything."

"You need to realize that he is far more dangerous than you think he is" Tallis said, implying strongly to any passersby or eavesdroppers that he was speaking of Voldemort. Draco knew that he really meant Dumbledore though.

"I am beginning to see that. Perhaps I will come and speak with you and your Father sometime later about it."

The two came upon a pair of second years trying to sneak into the kitchens. Tallis deducted ten points each and sent them back to their rooms quickly. The young men continued on their way slowly. "Something strange seems to be going on with the Gryffindors" Draco said, finally breaking their comfortable silence.

"Really?" Tallis asked, his interest peaked.

"They're being…nice. There haven't been any confrontations between Slytherins and Gryffindors at all this year. We've usually had at least a few big fights by the two-week mark. Have you heard of anything going on with them? You know a few of them, don't you?"

"I don't know much. I've heard from Ron and Hermione that the Gryffindors are eager to ease tensions among the houses, particularly Slytherin-Gryffindor relations. They know that the poor relations between the houses has only added to the problem of this war, dividing loyalties and making it easier to break away. They are fully aware that a lion's share of the blame goes to them…they _do_ seem to start the most fights and they tend to participate in fights that don't even involve them. I don't know what they were planning on doing to fix things though."

"Just the lack of antagonism is helping greatly. We know that our reputation has been badly damaged by this war and there isn't much we can do to fix it on our own. It has definitely made the first years feel better, too. They were terrified to join our house with tensions as they were. At least they haven't been picked on any more than any other first year so far."

"How have people been reacting to my Father's betrayal of Voldemort?" Tallis asked quietly. "He won't talk about it with me and I can't see much reaction in class."

"People haven't said a whole lot. Most of the Slyths are firmly on the side of the light or else neutral and were pleased to learn that our Head of House was as well. A few have had to keep their distance because their parents are still loyal and they fear being used by them to hurt the Professor. They themselves are all neutral but they aren't old enough to risk just openly admitting their sides. All of us are trying to wait as long as possible before doing that."

"It will be dangerous for you all whenever you do come out and openly side against the Dark Lord. Make sure they keep it quiet as long as possible. Let us know what, if anything, we can do to help. I'm sorry that you have to go through something like that just because of a decision your parents made."

Draco smiled at Tallis, but dropped the depressing topic. He knew all too well what the reaction would be. He would be mistrusted on the side of the light and the dark would hunt him down for his betrayal. He would be leaving the dark for nothing, essentially. The light surely wouldn't welcome him or protect him. Doing something for no personal gain was anathema to Slytherins normally but they all realized that gaining nothing was better than losing everything. "Sev seems to be going a bit easier on the other three houses since he was discovered but he still favors us like, as I'm sure you've noticed."

Tallis smiled. He had seen earlier that his Father was not going to give up his classroom persona just because he had been exposed as a spy. He thought that his Father was being more fair but he wasn't certain if his perception wasn't skewed. He was glad to hear confirmation that his Father was indeed finally attempting to be fair.

"Are you really close to Weasley?" Draco asked suddenly.

Tallis raised an eyebrow. "I have been dating him for two years, Draco. Of course I am."

"No, no, not Bill, I meant Ron Weasley."

"Not terribly so. We go out occasionally and talk a bit when I'm over at the Burrow but we aren't best mates or anything" Tallis said, feeling bad for betraying his friend like that. He could hardly tell Draco Malfoy that he was best friends with Ron Weasley though. "We talk occasionally about things that are going on in the world or about his family but mostly about Quidditch. I have known them all for a few years now. His mum has always been really kind to me," he said, smiling softly as he thought of Molly.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." He could tell that his friend was deep in thought.

"It's alright, Draco. I know you don't like them very much. They have always been very kind to me, even from the beginning. You'd expect them to react badly to their son and heir bringing home a Snape for Sunday dinner but they all welcomed me that first night and have never made me feel less than welcome since."

"Is that where you met Potter?"

"Yes, briefly" Tallis said, thankful for such a great cover story. He nearly kicked himself for not thinking of one earlier. "Why are you so interested in harry Potter? You are straight, aren't you?"

Draco laughed. "Yes, completely. I have no romantic interest in Potter he's just always fascinated me for some reason. From the very beginning I have been captivated by him. I don't really know why. I always thought we were a lot more alike that either of us cared to admit."

Tallis smiled. "I'm sure you are. We had only met a time or two for a few brief minutes until that day in Diagon Alley when we all went shopping together and then they came over to the manor. That was more about Ron wanting to visit with Bill than anything else. They are very close."

"Have you ever dated anyone but Bill?"

"Not really. We started dating when I was nearly sixteen. I had a few dates with some people but nothing much. You?"

"Hm? I don't really date much. I mean seriously date, that is. I go on a lot of dates and have some girls that I mess around with but no one remotely serious. I'm not ready to settle down yet. Plus, it drives my Father insane," he said, laughing lightly.

"What is your Father like?" Tallis asked softly. He had clearly met him before when he was Harry Potter but those meetings didn't tell him what Lucius Malfoy was like as a father. As he had quickly learned with his own Father, public appearances could often hardly be compared to private behavior. Perhaps Lucius was actually a great dad. He doubted it, but it was entirely possible.

Draco sighed. "About what you'd expect him to be like. He didn't particularly want to marry my mum and he lets her know it at every opportunity. He wanted an heir but wanted nothing to do with a son, you know?" Tallis nodded. Yes, he knew very well about people wanting you present in their house for a specific purpose but not actually wanting you or wanting to be near you. "He rarely spoke to me before I came to Hogwarts but when I got into Slytherin so quickly he warmed up a bit. The only times he would really talk to me though were when he would tell me about the glory of the Dark Lord and other rot. Not much of a father figure, really.

"He wasn't bad, overall. I mean, he didn't abuse me or have the house elves ever punish me or anything." He laughed harshly. "To do that he'd have to notice me first. Lucius Malfoy wouldn't waste a minute for his son, whether to praise or punish him. I don't know. I know it could have been much, much worse but it wasn't so great how it was."

"What about your mum?" Tallis asked hesitantly. He had mentioned her somewhat fondly. Perhaps they were close. Not to mention the very title 'mum' gave away quite a lot.

Draco smiled happily. "She's great. She's always been there for me. A lot of pureblood women let the house elves rear their children, not wanting to be bothered. She never gave over control to them though. I mean, they obviously helped out but she did almost everything herself. And she's always been on my side, always been there to support me. I worry about her alone in the manor with my Father."

Tallis cringed, remembering that Lucius Malfoy had bribed his way out of Azkaban early in his sixth year. No doubt the four months in Azkaban hadn't improved his temperament at all. "I'm glad you have your mum at least," Tallis said. "Father showed me a picture of her…she's beautiful."

"She can't wait to really meet you. She was sad that she had to meet you for the first time in such a public place and she couldn't really talk to you."

"Why is that? Why do purebloods act like that in pubic? It's damn strange, if you ask me."

"You know, I don't really know. My Father just told me that was the way a Malfoy acted and if I wanted to be a Malfoy I would do so as well. For a lot of us it is a protection of sorts. People don't tend to like Slytherins and it is easier to mask your pain when people are nasty to you if you are already wearing a mask. I'm not sure about those who do it for other reasons. Probably just to make themselves feel superior and make everyone else feel inferior," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "So, has Sev been seeing anyone recently?"

"What?" Tallis, said, completely startled. It had never occurred to him that his Father might have a love life. Hell, he might have already been in a relationship and now he was spending all of his time taking care of him instead of his mystery girlfriend. Merlin, he was a bad son! Aside from knowing his Father was decidedly straight and had once had a sexual relationship with Lily Evans he didn't know a single thing about his love life. "No one that I know of. No one came to the manor at all over the summer and he never left except to go to the tattoo parlor with me that one day."

"He doesn't get out enough. I mean, I know he can't actually go out right now, but he doesn't date enough. He totally sells himself short."

Tallis thought back to the conversation in the lab where his Father had told him that he doubted he could date a woman long enough to get her pregnant. He felt immensely sad for him. He was a wonderful man but it probably would take a special woman to see past his prickly exterior. Pity Poppy was so much older than he was. "He does. He doesn't think that he's at all handsome and he is convinced that no one would ever put up with his personality."

"When I was young I used to wish that my Father would disappear or go away or just die. Then my mum could marry Severus and I would have the perfect family. I'm not so sure now, looking at it as an adult, that they would ever really get along as lovers, but it was a nice dream."

Tallis smiled softly. He had always had similar dreams. Not about Mrs. Malfoy, but about a loving family. "Who knows? Maybe they would work out. Would your Father never divorce her? Or couldn't she, him?"

Draco looked at Tallis incredulously. "No pureblood woman married under a contract can get a divorce. Didn't you know that?" Tallis shrugged and smiled. Draco shook his head at his friend's lack of education but continued. "No way would my Father ever divorce her. He'd have to return to her the enormous dowry she came with and sign over to her the manor and lands that her Father gave for her keep. Father has no need for any of it, including her, but he would never allow anyone else to have them. No, she'll have to wait until he's dead to move on."

Tallis nodded sadly. "I doubt they'd work out well anyway. They are probably too close of friends to ever see each other like that. Maybe when this war is over they can both go out and find someone they truly want to be with."

Draco sighed loudly. "I'm sick of this stupid war. I just wish it could be over, one way or another. I know I sound incredibly selfish but I just want to be able to have a normal life again."

"Me too," Tallis said softly. "That's all I've ever wanted."

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Author's Note: PLEASE READ! (sorry it is so long)

It's time to vote again! I've been turning over the Dumbledore problem in my mind for weeks now and can't make up my mind. Part of me screams that Tallis would never, ever want to go through a court trial, even if he could technically avoid it as Tallis Snape and would never need to testify. As such a private person I think that he would never want his past life exposed in such a manner.

Another part of me says fuck it, Dumbledore and the bastards deserve prison, at the very least, for what they have done. I'm not a big fan of vigilante justice or letting them get away with it all but I can definitely see either one of those options working well. So here's the options I have been considering (there are essentially 4 choices divided into 2 subgroups—clarify which one of the 4 you prefer if you decide to vote):

A.) We have a huge trial in which everything is exposed about Harry Potter's upbringing and Dumbledore's duplicity. Within this category there is the choice of having everyone sentenced to life terms _or_ sentenced to the Kiss (or another suitably horrifying punishment). Part of me would rather just give them life sentences, thus removing any chance of them getting out of some of the pain. Frankly, the assholes deserve it.

B.) We avoid the trial in an effort to protect Tallis' feelings. Within this category we have the choice of Sev and Co. killing and/or maiming the muggles and Dumbledore _or_ having them leave the bastards alone as Tallis requests. With the second part of this choice Dumbledore would just fade away into obscurity and the muggles would continue to live their miserable, wretched lives. I'm probably least interested in this last one, where everyone gets away without any punishment. I don't think it would be out of character necessarily though.

Thoughts? Opinions? Major objections? I truly am torn over this but am leaning toward the trial. I hesitate over that though since I think I might reveal Tallis to be Harry Potter later in the story and I hate to have everything revealed about his life and then have him need to return to it, or at least return to the notoriety. Even thinking about having such a thing happen to him makes my heart hurt. I haven't decided yet if I will reveal him though. We'll have to see what direction the story goes in.

Voting open until Wednesday, September 21.


	36. Malcus Perry

A/N: Wow…so my poll ended up being pretty confusing. Then I realized that there were some options I had mentioned earlier involving Voldemort that I didn't even list! (thanks to everyone who pointed that out) Between the choices I put forth and the many, many wonderful options you all presented my A/N would be longer than the chapter just to sum them up. I'm going to simplify things for now and then we can vote again on the details later.

For now, your choices are:

A. We have a trial, either big and revealing or small (we can pick later, along with the punishments) **44 votes so far** (all including various punishments)

B. We do not have a trial. We will pick potential punishments (or lack of) inflicted by Severus and the Weasleys later. **7 votes so far **(including various punishments/endings)

C. We avoid the whole issue of a trial and have Voldemort capture/kill Dumbledore and potentially out his deeds to the world. I can't really see him killing the Dursleys though once he found out how well they tortured Harry regardless of their status as muggles. They seem to be the sort of people he'd like. Just my opinion. **3 clear votes so far** (a lot mentioned him in passing but seemed more pro-trial or anti-trial than specifically pro-Voldemort dealing with things).

Anyone who already voted for a trial in any way will be put into that category and anyone who voted against it in any way will be placed there. If the Voldemort category changes your vote you can go ahead and revote. Yes, I am fully aware that doing so will make this completely unscientific but I don't particularly care. I'm really just trying to feel everyone out and get some good opinions.

If the votes are really close I will go back and try to eliminate double votes by ignoring the earliest one(s) and only counting the most recent. I suspect that it will be like last time though with one specific choice being the clear winner, double voting or not. I'm kind of anxious to see what you all think since I'm damned if I can decide on my own! I can definitely see pluses to each one.

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Chapter 36 

Tallis nervously made his way to the Defense classroom. It was the week of the full moon and it was his turn to fill in for Remus. His first lesson of the day was a seventh year class. He had never taught the upper levels by himself before, without his Father in the room as well. He was worried that they wouldn't listen to him. He was only supposedly a year older than them and he was smaller than nearly every one of the students. He hadn't had any problems with the older students while under the watchful eye of his Father but this would be an entirely new experience for him.

Nearly all of the seventh years had opted to take the class so Defense had become a sort of filler class and students were placed into whatever slot best fit their schedule. The NEWT level class was no longer divided by house but was instead a mix of all four. His first class had Hermione, Ron and Draco in it, which was actually a relief to Tallis. At least he had three people he knew would behave and participate well. Hopefully the rest would follow their example.

It was the third week of the year and so far everything had gone well. His class of first years was doing wonderfully and seemed to be progressing well. The second years that he shared with his Father enjoyed his lessons and he found that he and his Father worked well as team teachers. Both had strengths where the other had weaknesses, making them an effective team. The upper levels had also behaved well and seemed to enjoy his assistance when he was present during their classes. He tended to answer a lot of questions since his Father disliked doing so. His time in the Infirmary with Poppy had been wonderful too. He hadn't gotten to move to active spellwork yet as they were still dealing with general healing theory and theoretical applications. He hoped to move on to actual patients soon.

He entered the classroom only moments after the last student had taken her seat. He walked briskly up to the front of the room. "Tonight is the night of the full moon and so Professor Lupin is resting in his quarters in preparation for this evening. I will be filling in for him today and the next two days while he is recovering. For those of you whom I have not yet met, I am Apprentice Snape. Today we will be working on your dueling—specifically on your speed and accuracy.

"Both speed and accuracy are incredibly important in any duel—more so many times than your knowledge of spells or your magical strength. It is your speed in dodging and retaliating that will save you when you are attacked and it is your accuracy with your own attacks that will bring your opponent down as quickly as possible.

"In light of this, today we will be doing something that is perhaps unusual in this classroom. I ask all of you to remove your robes so that you can duel without the added encumbrance of the material. Ladies, I invite you to transfigure your skirts into shorts or pants. If you need assistance, please raise your hand and I will come and do so for you." All of the young women quickly did as he had requested; curious as to what exactly they would be doing since he was recommending such a step to retain modesty.

"Gentlemen, feel free to remove your ties and roll up your sleeves. Allowing yourself free range of movement will be the most helpful thing you can do to prepare for this lesson." The young men immediately pulled off their ties and many rolled up their sleeves. Tallis followed suit, slipping off his deep blue robes leaving himself in dark gray trousers and a fitted white button down shirt. He too rolled his sleeves up, evidently shocking a few students who had not yet seen his tattoos. He had assumed that the Slytherins had told everyone but evidently they had kept the information to themselves. He rolled his eyes. He was getting rather tired of the typical response to his artwork. Honestly, had no one ever seen a tattoo before? Tattoos weren't quite as common in the wizarding world but they were common enough that the students shouldn't be this shocked.

"All right. Now then, I need you to get together in groups of four because you will duel two on two. You need to learn to work with a partner and to expect attacks from more than one source. You may choose your own groups; I have no desire to force you to work with people you do not know well—at least today. We will do that later on, if we have time. It is a valuable skill to be able to duel well with a randomly assigned partner and many witches and wizards are incapable of it. We'll work up to that. For now though, please partner up."

The sixteen students quickly formed four groups and Tallis magically pushed the desks to the sides of the room creating a large open space in the middle. "Remember now, the objective of this duel is not to show off how many spells you have memorized but to avoid as many spells as you can while your opponents attack as directly as they can. Don't waste time on a counter spell when you can simply dodge it and send an attack of your own. In fact, those who are on the defensive won't use their wands at all, just their bodies to defend themselves. Don't assume that something cannot be dodged just because it will require a larger movement than simply stepping aside. I expect you to do whatever necessary to avoid the attack, hence my request that you make yourselves comfortable. Remember: if you are hit it will become more difficult for you to fight back.

"For those of you who are attacking your main goal is accuracy. I will not be watching to see how many spells you use and how often you repeat yourself. I don't care if you only cast a single spell repeatedly all period. Your main objective—your _only_ objective is to practice your accuracy when you are dealing with more than one moving target at a time. Many of you will struggle to hit even one moving object and today you will be faced with two. Remember: for the purposes of this exercise, if your opponents reach you and disarm you, you have lost the fight, even if you are still standing."

The students looked slightly puzzled. Their classes had always, up to now, been focused exclusively on learning new spells. Points were gained for perfectly done spells and for knowledge of spells that had not yet been taught in class. They had never focused on anything like this before. Tallis sighed, seeing their confusion. Evidently a demonstration was in order. "Mr. Malfoy, will you please attack me? You may do so until either I am unconscious or I disarm you." Draco looked nervous at this request. He was fully aware that Tallis was incredibly strong and also brilliant at DADA. He had seen his friend's scores when they were published in the paper. He gained some confidence when he saw Tallis set his wand on the podium and step forward unarmed although he knew to still expect a challenge from his small friend.

"In an ideal world you would all be capable of fighting back even when unarmed. Today, I am only looking for an effort on everyone's part to not get hit by spells rather than truly fighting back. We'll work up to that. I promise you, those you meet on a battlefield will not be honorable. They will not bow to you and take the requisite number of paces before they send a single spell at you and wait for you to send one back. Fights are quick and they are dirty. Best to learn that now in relative safety."

The students looked between their tiny professor and Draco Malfoy in amazement. He honestly believed that he could beat Draco Malfoy in a fight without using magic? Draco was by no means a giant but he was a good six inches taller than their teacher and certainly stronger. If it came down to a physical fight there was no way that Tallis could win. They all stepped back to watch the show.

"Are you ready, sir?" Draco asked.

"Anytime."

Draco immediately began his attack, sending spell after spell at Tallis. Tallis moved with incredible skill and speed, jumping out of the way, bending in ways that Draco would have believed to be impossible, and even tumbling on the ground when necessary. Not a single spell touched him. His skill was largely due to his many, many years of dodging punches from Dudley and Vernon. He had also learned through them to anticipate movements, studying his opponent's body closely to see when muscles tensed and he could expect another hit…or spell, in this case.

His incredible flexibility was partially natural and partially helped along by his rather active lover. He had realized the benefits of such training a few years back and had started working on something similar to this with Ron and Hermione. All of them had honed their skills while working one on two since they didn't have a fourth person to practice with regularly.

Draco was growing frustrated and started sending more powerful curses at him. In his irritation though he grew less accurate and it became even easier for Tallis to dodge the spells. He started moving closer to Draco, slowly but surely. After about five minutes of constant spell flinging Draco was growing weary and he had not managed to land a single hit. Tallis twisted one last time and, in a move of flexibility that Draco never would have imagined would have allowed the small boy to reach him, grabbed the wand from Draco's hand.

The students all sat in silence, completely shocked. They had all put their money on Draco beating Apprentice Snape within a few seconds. Their teacher was barely winded, too. "Thank you Mr. Malfoy. Ten points to Slytherin. All right class. Let's discuss what went wrong. Mr. Malfoy began excellently. His spells were spot on and very difficult to dodge. However, at a bit more than two minutes he began to grow frustrated and his spells lost their accuracy. That is something that you must never do. Always remain calm. Always remain focused. Losing your calm can often mean the same thing as losing the battle.

"Moving on. Mr. Malfoy underestimated my flexibility and my reach. These are very easy things to mistake in an opponent, especially if your opponent is much taller or shorter than average as I clearly am. I am certain that all of you would have been tricked by my last move. It is one of the benefits of my size and I can show some of you the same move later. I doubt it will help anyone over about 5'6" though. Some moves simply work better for smaller people. Many find it more difficult to fight someone my size than to fight someone who is average or even above average. My NEWT examiners found it more difficult to fight me than to fight someone like Professor Snape because they kept underestimating me in every way possible. If you are small, use that to your advantage. Every size witch or wizard has his or her strong points. There is no best size, best height, best strength, or best weight when it comes to fighting.

"What you need to realize is that you will need your own style of fighting. It will be different for every one of you. It will be based partially on your size and physical strength and partly on your magical strength and your personality. I want you to use today to begin to develop this. You all noticed that I played to my strengths—my speed and my flexibility. I made no effort whatsoever to overpower Mr. Malfoy or to attack him full on. I would have adjusted my fighting style slightly if I were fighting someone closer to my size, allowing for moves that would not work when fighting someone larger than me. A remotely experienced opponent who was closer my size would not have made that last mistake that Mr. Malfoy made and I would have needed to end the duel in a different way, perhaps even with a physical attack.

"While the purpose of today is to begin to find your style you must also realize that such things are always fluid and change for each circumstance, depending on your opponent and various other issues. This is not a specific series of moves you can memorize and them implement in a set order. It will always be changing and you need to change with it. Improvisation is your single best weapon.

"A few rules. No physical fighting of any kind. This includes punches, slaps, kicks and any other form of physically harming a classmate. May the gods help you if you pull an actual weapon on a classmate—not that any of you should be carrying any weapons to begin with. I managed to get Mr. Malfoy's wand from him without actually touching him. You can all do the same. If you want a boxing practice do it on your own time.

"There will be no use of high level spells of any kind. The main purpose of this exercise is to work on dodging and attacking, not to practice difficult and dangerous spells on an unarmed classmate. If anyone uses a spell over the fifth year level or one specifically designed to cause pain the caster will be removed from this room. You will not return to this class until Professor Lupin approves your return. And finally, you will remember that your partner is on your side. You are fighting together. Hitting a partner with a spell will be grounds for removal from this classroom immediately. Remember: it is you and your partner fighting against your other two group mates. This is not a one on one fight. I do not expect this to be a problem right now as you have undoubtedly chosen friends to work with but tomorrow you will work with a group of my choosing. These rules will, of course, be in effect tomorrow as well."

The students listened solemnly. "Are there any questions? Miss Granger."

"How long will we continue on the sides we currently are on? I mean, will we switch from being the attacking team to the defending team?"

"Excellent question. When the bell sounds after five minutes of the exercise you will have a three minute break to regroup and then switch places. If the defense team actually manages to disarm the attack team before that time they will return the wands and begin anew. If the attack team incapacitates the defense team they will immediately reverse any spells and also begin anew. Any more questions? All right, begin."

The students immediately split into separate areas of the room and began the exercise. Tallis walked through the students, taking mental notes and assisting students when necessary. He demonstrated a few quick moves as he went to individual students, tailoring his instruction according to each student's needs. No defense group managed to make it past the one minute thirty second mark. Ron and Hermione would have been able to but they had decided to be in the same group but on opposite teams in order to help disguise their skill in addition to trying to downplay their abilities. They were no where near as good as Tallis but they were much, much better than their classmates were. Tallis sighed, looking over the class once more. They had a lot of work to do.

Tallis made his way over to the last group, a mixed group of Slytherins and Ravenclaws. "Very good Mr. Perry" Tallis said to a Ravenclaw who had just dodged an attack that would have caught most of his classmates. The bell sounded announcing a break and everyone relaxed. Draco and Millie walked in closer to Apprentice Snape as he was talking quietly with Malcus Perry and Theo Nott about their work. They were just in time to hear Malcus ask a question they had never imagined he would.

"So, Tallis, what are you doing Friday night?" he said casually, leaning in heavily and openly leering at Tallis.

Tallis took a quick step back. "Mr. Perry. I do not believe that is an appropriate or pertinent question here. Miss Bulstrode, when you attack you need to ease up on your right shoulder. I've noticed that you tend to be a bit stiff in your efforts to be accurate. You don't need to use this time to practice accuracy—you have that down. Use it instead to practice fluidity of movement. You will find that you speed up quite a bit if you aren't as stiff."

Malcus had walked up closely behind Tallis as he spoke with Mille. Draco's face must have shown some of his shock because Tallis wasn't as taken by surprise as he would have been without seeing his expression. Malcus wrapped his arms around Tallis' waist and bent down to whisper something in his ear that no one could make out. Tallis pushed him away roughly, his eyes bright with anger. "You will remember your place Mr. Perry. Two weeks detention, starting tonight," he bit out, his magic pulsing violently around him.

"What? You can't be serious! I've seen the way you look at me, begging for it."

Tallis shuddered imperceptibly, his eyes narrowing dangerously. The air itself grew thick with Tallis' anger, making most of the students shudder. Hermione and Ron exchanged worried looks and started slowly making their way over to him. "Let's make it three, shall we Mr. Perry?" Tallis asked, clearly livid. Malcus looked irritated but he shut up. The bell rang again, calling everyone back to his or her place. Hermione looked at Tallis, still worried. Draco too looked concerned for his new friend but he returned to his place, knowing that Tallis needed everyone to behave right now, including him. He knew that Tallis really couldn't take another student misbehaving.

Tallis continued his rounds, complimenting and gently correcting students as he went, calming down slowly. Class continued smoothly for the next half hour with a few more changes of position for the students. He finally made his way back to Draco's group that also unfortunately held Malcus Perry, dreading being near the ill-mannered boy. He didn't want to neglect the rest of the group for his bad behavior though. He stood near Draco, who was once again attacking, to observe the group's work. Malcus actually made it close to Draco and then, in a blatant attempt to grope Tallis, threw himself at Tallis and Draco, "accidentally" missing Draco entirely.

He pulled Tallis to him roughly, holding him tightly against himself, trying to get a quick grope. Hermione and Ron dropped their wands in shock and cried out, terrified of what Tallis might do. Draco barely registered what had happened before Malcus was thrown from Tallis by an otherworldly force, his body still crackling with the excess power from the spell. Malcus lay in a heap against the wall, moaning. Tallis hurriedly pushed his sleeves down but Draco caught sight of the fact that the previously black runes around his arms were now bright silver. He looked over to the desk where Tallis' wand was still sitting and then looked back to his friend. He stared at Tallis in shock, not really understanding what had happened.

"Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, please escort Mr. Perry to the Infirmary" Tallis said with a calm that he was definitely not feeling. He needed them to explain to Poppy what had happened so she would know how to treat the boy. No one else had any idea what curse he had used. Ron roughly spelled the moaning boy into the air, not bothering with the nicety of a stretcher to smooth the ride along. Tallis ignored the departing students. "Please continue." The students nervously began again, all of them desperate to gossip about what had happened but not daring to do so with their teacher so angry.

The class ended shortly after that. "You all did very well today," Tallis said quietly. "As I said earlier, during our next class we will be doing the same thing but I will be choosing your groups for you. Professor Lupin left no assignment for tonight and I have decided not to set one. Please come to class prepared next time for similar activities. Remember to return your uniforms to their original condition before you go to your next class—I'll not take any blame for you being out of dress code. Good day."

The students quickly redressed and filed out, already gossiping about what had happened. Draco remained behind. "What happened, Tallis?"

Tallis sat down in the seat, shaking visibly. "I…I'll tell you, soon. I just really need my dad right now. Can you get him for me?" He sounded so young and desperate it scared Draco. He had never heard him call Severus 'dad' before. He knew that Tallis was more than just a bit upset about an unruly student. Something was really wrong.

"Sure. I'll be right back." Draco left his things on his desk and ran down the hall toward the dungeons. He knew that there wasn't a class after theirs in the Defense room until one and he hoped that Sev was free to come. He burst into the potions lab just as a class of fourth years was letting out. Severus looked up, startled. Before he could inquire as to what was wrong Draco began his convoluted story. "He needs you. Perry grabbed him and he's freaking out and he needs you now."

Severus took a moment to understand the babble and he took off down the hall as quickly as he could without drawing attention. Draco walked quickly by his side, barely keeping up with his godfather's long stride. "Explain" Severus growled out.

Draco spoke as quietly as possible, not wanting to draw attention to the story, although he knew it would be all over the school within minutes. "We were dueling, practicing dodging and accuracy. Perry had been harassing him earlier. I'm not sure what he said but it was bad enough for Tallis to give him three weeks detention." This nearly brought Severus to a stop but he quickly started moving again with even more speed than before. Tallis had never assigned more than one night of detention to a student at any one time.

"Continue."

"Well, Perry stopped bothering him and class continued. The next time Tallis made it to our group though I thought that something was up and evidently Tallis did too. Tallis came and stood behind me. I think he may have been nervous or something, I don't know. Anyway, Perry just threw himself at Tallis and grabbed him. I don't know what Tallis did but suddenly Perry was thrown across the room by some incredibly strong spell and his whole body was running over with magic."

Severus knew exactly what his son had done but he refrained from commenting at all. They had reached the Defense room. Severus cautiously opened the door and saw his son hunched over in the seat behind the desk. "Tallis? Tallie?"

Tallis looked up, terror still plain on his face and his shoulders shaking hard. Severus walked close to him slowly, trying to read what his son needed right now. "I'm here now. Everything's ok." Draco closed the door and stood in the classroom, watching what was happening with open curiosity. Severus lightly touched Tallis on the shoulder making Tallis jerk aside violently. Severus quickly backed away a few steps. "It's just me, Tallie. Just your Father." Tallis stared at him for a few, long minutes, evidently trying to sort out his memories. He was one the verge of another episode and he was struggling to keep his mind. Tallis finally moved back toward him slowly, this time accepting his Father's hug.

After a few moments to make certain that his son was at least marginally calm, Severus transfigured the chair into a small sofa and sat down next to him. Tallis almost immediately scooted in close to his Father, resting his head on his chest, calming once he heard his Father's soothing heartbeat. Severus ran his fingers through his son's hair, murmuring quietly to keep him calm. It was amazing how quickly Tallis had learned to take comfort in touch and not to fear it. He had clearly found Bill's touch comforting before this summer but for him to have adjusted so quickly to him as a Father was incredible.

Draco stood staring at the two Snapes, absolutely floored. He had known that Severus was close with his son but he had never expected such sensitivity and gentleness from the spy. He was very close to his godfather and even he had never seen his godfather like this.

A knock sounded at the door. Hermione and Ron walked in after waiting a moment. They saw Draco watching their friend and his father. "Is he all right?" Hermione asked softly.

"Getting there. Do you know why he was so upset? I mean I know he clearly didn't want Perry to be bothering him, especially while he was teaching, but this is more than just irritation at unwanted attentions." Draco was still in too much shock to comprehend that he was conversing civilly with two Gryffindors.

Ron and Hermione exchanged quick looks. "I'm not exactly sure but I think he had a bad experience a while back" Ron said quietly. "Bill never really told me anything though and neither did Tallis." Neither entirely true nor an outright lie and enough information to keep him from digging too deeply yet still vague enough that it didn't really tell him anything.

Draco nodded, thinking about the vague words. Perhaps this was what Severus had meant when he said that not everything was good in his son's life. Perhaps he had been raped recently. No wonder Sev didn't want him to press. He watched as Severus asked his son a question and Tallis started speaking softly to his Father. Severus tensed visibly in his seat, jaw clenched tight whenever he heard whatever his son had said. "I wonder if he just told the Professor what Malcus said to him. Did you hear it, Malfoy?" Hermione asked.

Draco shook his head and watched avidly as his godfather visibly started to calm himself and place his attention on his son again, trying to keep him relaxed. "What spell did Tallis hit Perry with?"

Hermione paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say. "We're not really sure," she said slowly. "It was some kind of electricity spell of something. Madame Pomfrey said it was like he had been hit by lightning or something similar."

Draco nodded. "Let's pack his stuff up for him so Sev can take him back to their rooms. He doesn't have another class to teach until after lunch…if he's ready to teach then." The two Gryffindors went to help him and the three quickly got Tallis' books and papers organized. Severus noticed that they were ready and he quietly prepared his son to leave, helping him put his robes back on. "Ready?" he asked quietly.

Tallis nodded, still in a daze. Severus accepted the stack of papers and books from Draco and walked next to his son as they slowly made their way back down to their rooms. The Gryffindors left as well, going their separate way back to the Tower to avoid any suspicion. As much as they wanted to be there to comfort their friend they knew that they couldn't be. Their plan over the summer had allowed them to be close acquaintances, nearly friends even, but not close enough that no one would question their presence walking down to their Professor's private quarters. Draco followed his godfather and Tallis down to the dungeons.

When they reached their door Tallis leaned in closer to his Father and said something quietly. Severus looked startled but when his son nodded again, he reluctantly agreed. Tallis stepped into the rooms while Severus turned to Draco. "My son wishes to explain a few things to you." Draco started forward into the room but Severus held his arm out, impeding his progress. "He needs a few hours to recover. Please come back after dinner and he will tell you what he can. I can guarantee you that it won't be everything. He will tell you what he feels comfortable telling you. Do not push him," he said firmly.

Draco nodded slowly, looked longingly into the rooms, wanting to be in there with his friend. He didn't understand exactly what was going on but he knew that Tallis was hurting and it bothered him that he couldn't do anything. He looked at his godfather one last time, nodded quickly, and turned and left for his dormitory to wait his meeting.

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Sorry again about the voting confusion. I got too excited about it and tried to do too much in one short poll. I promise I will have some more polls in the future though so you can all express opinions on punishments, etc.

Next chapter we'll see the meeting between Tallis and Draco!


	37. Telling the Truth a bit

A/N: Poll results so far…

A. We have a trial, either big and revealing or small **53 votes so far**

B. We do not have a trial. **9 votes so far **(

C. We avoid the whole issue of a trial and have Voldemort capture/kill Dumbledore and potentially out his deeds to the world. **6 votes so far**

Everyone's opinions have been incredibly insightful and I have pages and pages of notes written down with your comments. I am currently thinking about having a trial but still having Voldemort deal with Dumbledore (so he will be both tried and sentenced but still dealt with by dear old Voldie). The trial will not be a media circus though I don't think. I just can't do that to Tallis. Whenever there are high profile rape trials it breaks my heart for the poor victim. As if they haven't been through enough already. I have some plans in the works but don't want to give too much away…because then you wouldn't need to read! 

Updates have been a bit slower since my arthritis has been acting up recently and typing is a bit difficult (I got rheumatoid arthritis when I was a little kid…no, I am not really, really old…I'm 24). I'm hoping to write some more tomorrow. Right now I'm only a few chapters ahead—much less than I prefer. Thanks again for all of your wonderful reviews.

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Chapter 37 

"Are you sure you are ready for this?" Severus asked, watching his son nervously for any sign that he was going to crack. He disagreed with his son's decision to tell Draco some of his past that night. He didn't have a problem with telling Draco the information but he violently disagreed with the idea of doing it when his son had already had an incredibly emotional day. He really didn't want another repeat of the incident last month when Tallis lost his place in reality and was so confused. He had already gotten dangerously close to doing it again, earlier today.

"Yes," Tallis said quietly but firmly. "I owe him that at least."

"You don't owe him anything" Severus protested, concerned that his son felt that he truly _owed_ it to Draco to tell him everything.

"Well perhaps 'owe' was a bad word. But I feel that as my friend he deserves to know more. As your godson he deserves to know more. I feel terrible lying to him. I won't tell him everything but I want to give him something of an explanation. I'll just tell him enough so that he understands a bit of why Perry scared me so much. And maybe I'll tell him about my tattoos. Nothing about my old identity."

"I'm just worried, Tallie. It's been a long day already. Can't you do this in a few days? Take some time to yourself?"

"I'll be fine, Father. I just want to get this over with. I'll be careful and if I feel that I need you I'll call you."

This was another thing that had Severus extremely concerned—Tallis wanted to tell Draco alone. He had refused his Father's offer to be present as a buffer and Bill was not yet home from work. Severus had a feeling that even were Bill home that Tallis would have refused him entrance as well. He knew that his godson was a bit of a loose canon at times though and his potential reaction to a revelation of even a part of the truth was cause for concern. "I know you can take care of yourself, I just worry."

"I know. It will all be fine though." Tallis gave his Father what he thought was a reassuring smile but it still looked weak. Severus gave in. He knew his son would get his way in the end anyway, he just had felt the need to put up a token resistance. He hoped desperately that Draco would behave himself tonight. He, more than anyone, knew that his godson could be incredibly selfish and immature. He just prayed that he didn't display those qualities tonight.

Draco's knock sounded quietly on the front door. Tallis gave his Father another weak smile and went to his bedroom, curling up in one of the armchairs that stood near the small fireplace. Severus opened the door, letting Draco in. "Against my better judgement he insists on having this conversation with you. Let me tell you now, if you do anything to hurt him or scare him tonight then you will spend the rest of your life regretting it. You need to think before you act."

Draco looked at his godfather with wide eyes. His godfather had _never_ threatened him before, not even in play. "I would never hurt him," he said softly, trying to reassure Severus. Inside though, he was wondering exactly what Tallis would be telling him that made his godfather feel it was necessary to threaten him.

Severus nodded briskly. "He's in his room." Draco walked toward his friend's room, nervous for the first time about entering it. He tapped lightly on the door, alerting Tallis to his presence and then entered.

The room was dimly lit; most of the light came from the low burning fireplace. He spotted Tallis in one of the chairs, curled up even more tightly than he was wont to do. Tallis smiled briefly and nodded toward the other chair. Draco sat down, still not saying anything.

"I'm not really sure where to start, Draco," Tallis said quietly. "There's so much…so much I need to tell you." Tallis sighed heavily and sat in silence for a few minutes before abruptly beginning. "I wasn't always Tallis Snape." Draco looked up in shock and confusion but Tallis continued before he could say anything. "This is new, this is all new for me. It was only recently that my Father and I learned of our connection. He took me from my old life and started taking care of me."

"Is he really your Father?"

Tallis smiled—the first true smile he had had all day. "Yes." He paused for a few moments, clearly collecting his thoughts. Draco watched him closely; mind running as he tried to figure out what had been truth and what had been lies. He held his tongue though, his godfather's threat before he entered the room running clearly through his mind. He didn't want to risk losing Tallis and his godfather all because of some hastily spoken words.

Tallis was clearly thinking about how to continue his explanation. He didn't really know where to go from there…how to ease into a bit of information about his past without giving anything away about his identity. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to start talking about life with his aunt and uncle. Even thinking about them was painful. He decided to start toward the end of the story. It was a bit easier that way. "My tattoos aren't just tattoos," Tallis suddenly said. Draco looked a bit lost by this non sequitur. "They are a protective shield that I invented to repel touch—magic bound to my skin to serve as my ultimate protection."

Draco opened and closed his mouth a few times in shock, unable to verbalize anything. "How is that possible? That defies everything that I have ever known about magic, everything I have learned."

"It's a long story."

"But why? Why would you even _want_ to do that?"

Tallis swallowed hard. This was the difficult part. "Before my Father took me to the manor I lived with other people, people who didn't like me very much and were sure to let me know it. The woman hated me because I reminded her of my dead mother. The man…liked me, perhaps too much. When I discovered that I was a wizard I dedicated my life to finding a way to defend myself from them during the summers. Ironically, I finished it at the beginning of this summer and used it only one time before I learned that I had a living parent."

"Who were these people? What did they do?"

"My aunt and uncle," Tallis said, clearly ignoring the second question.

"Has it all been lies?" Draco sounded desolate, thinking that he was losing his new friend just as they were starting to get really close. Tallis was his first and only good friend that he had ever had who hadn't been ordered to like him or stay near him or suck up to him. Blaise and Theo weren't too bad and Millie was definitely pretty close to him but none of them were like Tallis. He was his first friend that he found completely on his own merits. Now, he was finding out it was all a lie.

"No, hardly any of it has been lies, at least of the important things. Our friendship wasn't ever a lie. I haven't always known my Father and clearly haven't always lived in the manor. I didn't go to Veyle Academy but used that as a way to protect my old identity. Other than that though, it is all true, I believe."

Draco felt instantly better. Yes, a lot of the big "facts" of his friend's life were fabricated but he himself, who he was as a man, was entirely true. He wouldn't be losing Tallis. "Who were you before?"

The expression on Tallis' face was pained for a moment before he wiped his face of expression. "I can't tell you yet. I will someday."

Draco nodded. He wasn't remotely satisfied but he wouldn't push. Merlin, he was actually glad that Severus and he had that little discussion earlier. It had helped to prepare him a bit.

"Will you tell me about your aunt and uncle?"

Tallis looked down at his lap, wringing his hands as he always did when he was nervous. "I don't know. I…I don't want you to stop being my friend."

Draco laughed. "Nothing you can say could do that. Tallis, it's fine. Tell me what you are comfortable telling me. It can't be that bad!" Tallis paled visibly, clenching his hands until the knuckles turned white. Draco saw how terrified his friend was and tried to fix his mistake. "I didn't mean to be flippant. I…whatever it is, it will be ok. I'll still be your friend," he said reassuringly.

Tallis nodded, albeit with a bit of skepticism. He took a deep breath. "When I was a baby they woke up one morning to find me on their doorstep, telling them to take care of me as they would their own son. They didn't want me though and so they ignored me as best they could. When I was old enough to walk I was given chores and duties around the house. Nothing too bad, but difficult to do on the amount of food they allowed me and the injuries that were never tended to."

"They didn't feed you?" Draco interrupted, aghast. So _this_ was why Tallis was so much smaller than his Father. _This_ was why Sev wouldn't explain why his son was so short. He couldn't possibly have explained it without giving away his son's past life.

"Sometimes they did. It wasn't too bad, then." Draco gave him an incredulous look that he simply couldn't stop, although Tallis was no longer looking at him. Tallis sighed and pulled his knees up on the chair, tucking them under his chin and wrapping his arms tightly around them. "When I got a bit older my uncle started coming to my cupboard at night." His eyes glazed over as if he was seeing a past event. Draco sat there in complete shock. Tallis had made a similar comment earlier, about his uncle liking him too well but he hadn't made the connection then. He now knew exactly what Tallis was implying but he couldn't really believe it. He had heard in some sort of abstract way about rape and sexual abuse but it had never seemed remotely real to him. Tallis shuddered violently and skipped on, still unable to say the words.

"When I found out about magic I started looking for a way to make it end. I read an extremely vague reference to binding magic to animate objects and decided to pursue it. I started getting tattoos when I was…thirteen" he quickly substituted, not yet prepared to give away his true age "and finished getting them all this last May."

"Is that what happened to Perry?"

"Yes," Tallis said quietly. "I currently have the highest form of protection turned off but I can activate my protection by thinking the code word. I used it for the second time today."

"You used it for the first time on your uncle this summer when he tried to r—"

"I don't want to talk about it," Tallis said sharply. Draco immediately nodded.

"What is the highest level of protection?"

"It won't allow any men to touch me and it puts all women onto a secondary system where I need to choose to attack them rather than doing so indiscriminately."

"What about Bill and your dad?"

"My Father is the only male I have ever allowed to have full access to me, the only man on my safest list. Up until recently I only had an extremely small group of people who were on even a partial touch policy where they could safely touch me without getting shocked. That is what Bill is on. I still had a defense set up though where I could use my safe word and even those I trusted could be attacked if I needed to. When my Father and I decided to come to Hogwarts though I knew that I needed to turn that highest level off—the level that shocked every male who's aura was not personally keyed into my tattoos."

"This is how you've been able to shake hands with people and brush up against people without them getting injured. I've heard some people comment on feeling some sort of electricity or magical currents whenever they stand too close to you. I never felt it though so I thought it was just gossip."

"It is usually only able to be felt like that when I am nervous or overwhelmed. I don't like crowds and I don't like people looking at me or touching me."

"Yet you got rid of it anyway. You did it for Severus, didn't you?"

"Yes. I didn't want him to be ashamed of me. With losing my top protection though, I have felt more…"

"Vulnerable?"

"I can take care of myself" Tallis snapped. He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Draco. Everyone always wants to take care of me and it drives me insane. I think they forget that I'm not ten years old just because I'm a bit small."

"They just worry about you. And trust me, everyone knows you can take care of yourself. No matter how small you may be, you are also the most powerful wizard I have ever met. I think you may be more powerful than Dumbledore and the Dark Lord both."

Tallis chose not to comment on this allusion to his power. "I actually like it a lot of the time when Father worries about me. It's nice, you know? I've never had a parent care before."

Draco gave his friend a sad smile. He felt like an ass now, thinking back to their conversation a week ago where he had complained about his Father ignoring him. Hell, Tallis had probably prayed for a parent—any kind of parent, just someone to take him away from his life. No wonder he was so thrilled to have Severus now. "How did you discover that Sev was your Father?"

"The Headmaster," Tallis hissed, growing truly angry for the first time in Draco's memory. He had seen Tallis irritated and peevish occasionally and he had seen Tallis very upset today but he had never, never seen him angry. "He knew all along. He knew it all. He knew…" he faded away as he realized that he couldn't tell Draco that the old man had known about what was happening at his relatives without giving his identity away. Dumbledore wouldn't have had any reason to know such intimate details about anyone who wasn't a student. He swallowed thickly. "He wouldn't tell us for some reason. So I lived with my aunt and uncle in misery while my Father lived alone, all alone." He faded off as he contemplated this. For a boy who had spent a large portion of his life locked away in a cupboard wishing for human companionship that didn't consist of abusive relatives, being alone was the worst punishment imaginable. Ironically, for a boy who wanted to avoid all human touch, he still was terrified of being alone. He had craved friendship and affection desperately yet found himself often incapable of accepting it.

The fire crackled loudly bringing Tallis abruptly back to the present conversation. "We were both grateful to learn of the other. I know it seems crazy to most of the students here, but finding out that I had a Father was a dream come true, literally. My Father, too, was incredibly lonely, although I doubt he would ever mention it to anyone. We needed each other" he finished softly. "We still do. I think we always will."

"I can't believe that he knew and didn't tell you! Why in the hell did you come here after all of that?"

"Revenge" Tallis whispered fiercely. "He hurt my Father and he will pay for it."

Draco wanted to point out that Tallis had been hurt far more that his Father had but he again held his tongue. He had known Tallis for almost a month now and he had quickly learned that his small friend had little concern for his own wellbeing and worried almost exclusively about those who were close to him. "I'll help; when the time comes." Tallis smiled gratefully. "So how exactly do your tattoos work? I've never seen anything like them. Hey, is that why they changed color earlier?" he said, remembering what he had seen in the Defense classroom.

"Yeah. When the spells are activated they turn silver for a few moments. I didn't think anyone saw." He proceeded to explain how the tattoos worked to Draco, giving him the slightly shorter version. Draco was completely blown away. He had been learning about magic and magical theory since he could speak and every single thing he learned went directly against this. It should not be possible. He was literally staring at the evidence though.

It was growing late and Tallis was clearly exhausted. His eyes kept drifting closed and he lay curled up on his seat. "I should go. You need to get some sleep," Draco said as he stood.

"I'm sorry I kept so many secrets from you, Draco," Tallis said softly.

"I understand. I probably would have done the same. You know you can always talk to me though, don't you?"

"Thanks."

"I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Night" Tallis called out quietly as his friend closed the door. Tallis stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed, thankful for the warm comfort his bed provided. Now if only Bill would be there to cuddle with he would feel wonderful.

Draco entered the sitting room to find Bill pacing anxiously holding a nearly empty glass and Severus drinking heavily. They both looked up as he entered the room. "How is he?" Severus asked immediately.

"Fine. He's gone to sleep, I think. He was very tired."

Bill set down his glass on the mantle and hurried to his lover's room. He had returned from work to hear rumor in the hallways of Tallis being attacked and then rushed into the Snape apartment to find that his boyfriend was closeted away with Draco Malfoy, evidently telling him some of the truth. He had been a nervous wreck, waiting to see for himself that Tallis was all right.

Draco poured himself a drink from the bottle of bourbon that was sitting on the table and threw himself into the seat next to his godfather. "So, what did you do to the bastard uncle when you found out about Tallis' childhood?"

"Castrated him," Severus said shortly.

"Good." He paused for a moment. "It's not enough, is it?"

"No. It'll never be enough. How much did he tell you?"

"Very little, I am sure. He told me briefly that he wasn't fed much, clearly explaining his size. He made a sort of drop away hint at physical abuse, talking about unhealed injuries or something. He mentioned his uncle coming to his cupboard at night and then skipped on to developing his spell. I guessed the rest."

"He can't say the words. He can't even hear them."

"I noticed. Was it as bad as I am thinking it was?"

"You can't even imagine it, Dray," Severus said hoarsely. "It is beyond your capability to even dream of. When I first saw the man I was nearly ill. I, who used to be a Death Eater and have happily witnessed and participated in revels."

Draco paled. "Merlin help him," he whispered. "No wonder Tallis was so thrown by Perry grabbing him."

"Frankly, Perry is lucky to be alive. My son is extraordinarily powerful and he holds a tenuous grasp over it at the best of times. When he is panicked he loses control completely. He's destroyed quite a few rooms in the manor beyond repair."

"Merlin," Draco whispered again. The two men drank in silence for a bit. "It bothers him, you know, that everyone is constantly watching out for him, trying to help him. He thinks that you guys think he can't take care of himself."

"He can't" Severus said immediately. "The boy would forget to eat if I didn't remind him and the day will probably never come where he actually looks out for what is best for himself. He worries constantly about making everyone else happy and defending our injured feelings but he never thinks of himself. I have to stand up for him."

"He actually likes it when you fuss, it's the others who bother him. He didn't way who 'they' were though…I guess Bill? I don't know. He's worried that you all see him as a little kid."

Severus rolled his eyes. "None of us sees him as a little kid. Even if we had done we are now fully cured of it after Bill's little show a few weeks ago."

"What did he do?" Draco asked.

"I had a few people over in a meeting to discuss potential revenge on the old man. Tallis came home early so we hid in the kitchen and sent Bill out to distract Tallis. After nearly fucking him right then and there they finally removed to _my_ office."

Draco howled with laughter. "Guess that solved you of seeing him as a kid, huh? Merlin, he doesn't do anything in halves, does he?"

Severus glared half heartedly at his godson. "I'll have you know that I may be permanently scarred from that. I still blush when I go into my office. I don't even _want_ to know what they did in there."

Draco still couldn't stop laughing as he leaned back in the comfortable chair. The two men sat in silence for a while, drinking quietly. "Will he ever be ok?" Draco finally asked, quietly.

"He's getting better every day. He's miles away from the scared boy I met just a few months ago. He has moved on so well and grown so much. If you had seen what he was like then you never would have thought he would _ever_ reach the stage he is at today, much less in so short a time. Tallis is a remarkable young man."

"That he is." Draco sat for a few moments, deep in thought. "I suppose his uncle has gotten everything fixed by now. Pity it couldn't last."

Severus laughed darkly. "He is a muggle, as is the wretched woman and their spawn. They can't fix it. Muggle medicine can't do anything for him, really, and there is no way that they would go to a wizard and ask for help."

"His uncle is a _muggle_?" Draco gasped, completely shocked. "So that's why…he didn't not know them because you are eccentric, he didn't know them because he never learned them!"

"Either that made no sense or I have imbibed entirely too much alcohol tonight" Severus said, eyeing the nearly empty bottle of bourbon warily.

"No, no. A few of us had been wondering earlier why Tallis had such strange holes in his wizarding education—things that all of us were taught at an early age. We had assumed that you had decided not to give him those specific lessons for some strange reason understandable only to you. I understand now though, that he didn't know them because he was reared by muggles, if you can call what they put him through that."

"I taught him what I could this summer to help him blend in. He's done remarkably well so far. And it appears that my reputation serves us well in this case."

"I never would have known. A Malfoy couldn't pull something like that off but a Snape certainly can. He's eccentric enough on his own anyway. Anything that is even a bit off people just chalk up to the typical Snape eccentricity."

"Tallis is a bit odd…not that I can really speak, I guess" Severus said, pouring another glass. He was well aware that few people understood his sense of humor and that most people thought he was impossibly strange.

"No offense meant really, but frankly, it surprises me on multiple levels that Bill Weasley is dating him. Foremost because of the abuse that he suffered but also because…well…he's very odd. Bill didn't strike me as someone who would find that appealing in a mate."

"Eh, the whole lot of the Weasleys are as strange as they come. Look at Molly…if that woman's not half crazed then I don't know who is. No doubt he finds Tallis completely normal, or more so than most people. He's never commented on it to me and I would think that if it bothered him he would speak of it. That boy certainly has no compunction about doing other things in front of me."

Draco snorted again, remembering his godfather's embarrassment overhearing his son and Bill before they had sex and how uncomfortable he had been on that first day when they had set up the lab and Bill had mentioned genital piercings. Weeks had passed and the man was _still_ blushing. "I don't guess you'll tell me who he was before, will you?" he said hopefully. Severus glared at him as best he could, given his state of inebriation. "I thought not, just wanted to try. Did he just learn this summer too that Miranda Jurow was his mother or did he know that before?"

Severus was at a complete loss for how to answer him without giving anything away. He decided to be vague. "His parentage was a complete shock for him but he welcomed it as best he could."


	38. You Did What!

A/N: Rather vague timeframe here. Assume it is around a week after the Malcus Perry incident, making it near the beginning of October. That means a month of class has gone by, for those keeping track. 

Votes are still at about the same levels since only a few people have added votes in their reviews. To review, that's:

A. We have a trial, either big and revealing or small. **54 votes so far**

B. We do not have a trial. **9 votes so far **

C. We avoid the whole issue of a trial and have Voldemort capture/kill Dumbledore and potentially out his deeds to the world. 7 votes so far

-

Chapter 38 

"You told him? You actually told him?" Ron said incredulously, his voice bouncing wildly off of the stone walls that surrounded them.

"We knew he would sooner or later Ronald," Hermione said patiently.

"And I didn't tell him everything. I didn't tell him who I was. I just…"

"What? You just what?" Ron said angrily. This was how it always was with Ron. He had a gut reaction that was sudden and sure and then he would calm down a bit and realize that he was being an ass.

"I didn't want to keep lying to him about everything. I didn't want to lose my new friend. I've already kind of lost you two. I never get to see you anymore. I can't lose him too," Tallis whispered.

This brought Ron up short. "Gods, mate, I'm an ass. Why do you put up with me?"

"You amuse us," Hermione said, stealing the last pastry from Ron's plate.

"I'm sorry, really Tallis. I don't know what's wrong with me. I just miss you is all. This sucks. It's our last year here and we can't even really be together all that much!"

"At least Father _finally_ got his ass down here. I don't know what exactly he was expecting to find but the look on his face when he saw it was great" he said, giggling like a little kid at the memory.

"What did he do? Merlin, we really haven't talked to you in forever!" Hermione asked in between bites of her stolen pastry.

"Eh, he gave this long winded 'I'm your Father and I know what's best for you and great magical beasts are not healthy' lecture the entire way down there, along with plenty of bitching on the side about the location of the entrance. Evidently Snapes do not go into girl's toilets, commonly used or not, according to him. But when he finally saw the main hall he was floored. He just stood there and stared at that ugly statue and the floor where I killed the basilisk for like ten minutes. Then he pulled himself together and adjusted his lecture to be 'You're completely bloody insane coming down here again when you weren't sure that creature was really dead' peppered healthily with 'I've fathered an idiot.'"

"Ah, that's the Snape we know and love," Ron said, digging through their supply cupboard for something else to eat. They had long ago brought down an old cupboard that they applied freshening and cooling charms to in order to store snacks down in their study area. They didn't want to ask the elves for food too often because it would arouse suspicion. The cupboard was stocked largely with muggle foods that Hermione brought and food that the trio bought in Hogsmeade.

"Did he explore everything?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course he did. Can you imagine the man deciding suddenly to be haphazard in something he did?"

"Well, he was a bit careless with the contraception charms with your mum at least once…no offense, mate" Ron said pulling out a bag of muggle licorice.

"Too true," Tallis conceded. "Anyhow, yes, he explored every nook and cranny of the hall and the rooms and _finally_ decided that we were not likely to get eaten by any stray magical creatures out for innocent students. He was very impressed with how well we fixed our rooms up though."

The room _was_ impressive. They had brought in two comfortable sofas and a bunch of large pillows. Low laying tables were scattered around the room, ideal for sitting on the floor to do homework. There was a single desk for Hermione to use when she wanted to (neither of the boys liked it). In a side room that they had finished the year before there were three small cots, a small bathroom and shower and a tiny kitchen with a stock of nonperishable goods, again, largely muggle. The living area wasn't anything grand but it was serviceable.

They had gotten the idea for the apartment earlier in their fifth year when they decided that they needed a safe haven that no one could possibly find them at. Hiding at the Dursley's would be a joke, as would hiding at either the Weasley's or the Granger's houses. Grimmauld Place was no true safe haven since it was also Dumbledore's headquarters. They decided to take matters into their own hands and create a place that no one knew about but the three of them and Bill.

Severus had been blown away by their foresight. He was concerned a bit that the only entrance was through the school that Dumbledore clearly ran but Tallis assured him that they had learned how to make portkeys after a month of intensive study and they made emergency portkeys which were stored in their apartment that would take them to Heathrow airport. Tallis had converted a large portion of his vault into muggle money in preparation for an escape, should one be needed. The trio had long known that Tallis was only a pawn in this war to Dumbledore and that he needed protection from Dumbledore as much as he did from Voldemort. Hiding in the muggle world would be easier for them than trying to hide among wizards. The Boy Who Lived was entirely too well known for that to ever work, although now this his looks had changed so much it clearly wasn't as much of a concern.

"Are we all calm about Draco now?" Hermione said, wanting to return to their old topic but worried that Ron would flip out again. She wasn't sure if he had gotten it out of his system.

"Yes," Ron said, sounding only slightly sulky. "It shocks me that you want to be friends with him but if you say you can trust him then I'll have to trust you. I'm just worried he'll pitch you when he finds out who you are."

"Me too. I'll deserve it though, for keeping it a secret for so long."

"Oh Tallis, you needed to keep it a secret. You still do in my opinion until you are absolutely certain that he won't freak out and tell everyone."

"I guess. I just…things are going so well right now. Teaching is ok, my apprenticeship is going well, Father is great, Bill is fabulous, as always" he said, winking at Ron who had turned a bit green thinking about his brother like that. "You and Ron were my first two real friends…my only friends up until now. I will always love you two and no one can ever replace you but…it just felt _nice_ having someone else, you know? Someone else who actually liked me and wanted to be friends with me, not Harry Potter. And I'm going to lose that, aren't I, when I tell him?"

Hermione bit her lip and looked over at Ron sadly. He really might lose Malfoy when he told him the truth. "Tallis, we can't tell for sure now. Don't worry about it until the time comes. Just keep being his friend and hopefully everything will work out for the best."

"I can't believe I'm defending the ferret, but I don't think he'll do that. I think he might actually be here for good, gods help us" Ron muttered.

Tallis smiled hesitantly. "You think?"

"Merlin, you're really going to rub this in, aren't you?" Tallis just smiled in return. Ron rolled his eyes. "Fine, _yes_, I think the ferret is going to stick around. He was terrified for you after that asshole grabbed you in class. He was genuinely worried for his friend, too much to just drop you when he finds out something he doesn't like. He may throw a little fit," Tallis and Hermione laughed at him, quietly pointing out that he was certainly knowledgeable about little fits, "but I think he'll get over it, eventually. I'm not entirely certain I want to be in the same building when you _do_ tell him."

"That's so comforting, Ronald," Hermione said. "Tallis, honey, if you want us there when you tell him then just let us know. We'll be there for you in whatever way you need us."

"Thanks Mione." Tallis sat quietly for a moment and then smirked evilly. "So, have you two gotten together yet?" His innocent question was met with two burning faces.

"We're not…I mean…" Ron fumbled, finally giving up.

"What Ron is trying to say is that we're not dating, we're just…well…"

"Friends with benefits?" Tallis suggested.

"That sounds awful!" Hermione exclaimed.

Tallis grinned. "He's your not-boyfriend?"

Hermione and Ron laughed. "Yeah, that's pretty accurate. Where'd you get that?" Hermione inquired.

"Father used to walk around muttering about his idiotic Gryffindor son and his infuriating not-boyfriend all the time. He talks to himself a lot. I never told him I heard. It was actually one of the things that let me know I'd be ok with him."

"Hearing him call you an idiot made you feel better?" Ron asked, seriously confused.

"No…yes. I don't know. It was more that he was able to be himself around me. That I knew that he wasn't putting on a show, pretending to be nice to me and then he'd reveal himself later and he'd hurt me. I knew he was just who he was acting like and I had nothing to fear. Am I making any sense?"

"Not really" Ron said helpfully.

Hermione kicked him sharply in the shins. "Yes, Tallis, you make perfect sense. It made you feel at home knowing that he wasn't pretending around you. He wasn't using company behavior or anything else that you always saw around the Dursleys. You knew you could take him at face value."

"The Dursleys were always so unpredictable, or at least they felt like they were until I was old enough to understand everything. They would be almost nice to me when other people were around or when they thought the neighbors could hear but then they would turn on me, and it would hurt all the more for their earlier kindness. At first I was scared that my Father would be like them but when I overheard him talking to himself I knew I was safe…really safe. He wasn't going to suddenly change on me and hurt me. The kindness he was showing me wasn't an act. This was really who he was."

"How have your detentions been going with Malcus Perry?" Ron asked, curious as to what was going on with that. The rumor mill had been surprisingly quiet about the whole affair ever since that first day. The students' quiet was no doubt helped by Professor Snape's liberal stripping of points from any house, including his own, that was caught gossiping about it. The students genuinely liked Tallis though, so they quickly quieted most talk about that day, knowing it had really bothered him.

Tallis smiled. "He's still serving the detentions, albeit grudgingly. Father wanted me to pass them off to him but I didn't think that would look good." At Ron's questioning look he elaborated. "It would look to some as if I were scared to be alone with him or something. I don't particularly relish being in the same room as him but I am not scared of him, and even if I were I wouldn't let him know it."

"What do you have him doing?"

"Mainly scrubbing cauldrons. Draco is often there at the same time, learning how to make the Wolfsbane potion so we have plenty of dirty cauldrons for him to clean."

"Draco has chosen this week as the perfect time to learn such a complicated potion?" Hermione asked, clearly seeing that there was more to this than Draco simply deciding to learn an impossibly complicated potion at the same time as Perry had his detentions.

"Yes, I know. He and Father thought they were being very sneaky about this but I saw it as well when Draco showed up on that first day to ask for some additional tutelage. It does make it more fun though so I haven't turned him away. And he hasn't come every day. I think he understands that I need to do this on my own, at least a bit."

"How's the ferret doing with it?" Ron asked.

Tallis glared at his use of the old nickname but answered anyway. He knew that friendship was a bit much to ask for at this point, he was just pleased that there was no longer any hostility in the question. "Very well, actually. I think he'll only need a few more weeks of work and he'll have it down."

"Impressive" Hermione breathed. "Will you teach me, later? I wish I had known he was doing it, I would have joined him."

"Actually, it is best to learn it one on one. It would be too hard for me to watch over both of you. I suppose you can come and just observe him working though, until he's done. It might help you a bit to see some of the steps before you actually do them yourself."

"I might do that. When is he coming next?"

"Probably tonight. Show up around eight."

"Alright" she said happily. Ron rolled his eyes. Only Hermione would be that excited about doing more work.

"How have your treatments with Poppy been going?" Hermione asked, concerned for Tallis.

"Alright. I have my second one tomorrow. I've just had the one so far but my ribs and collarbone have been perfectly regrown. It wasn't terribly painful, really, it was more uncomfortable than anything. It feels very odd having your bones vanished."

"What are you having done tomorrow?" Ron asked, although he well knew what was left on the list of injuries that needed to be healed. Tallis didn't know that Ron knew though. He still didn't know that _anyone_ beside his Father and Poppy knew. Bill's "distraction" had worked perfectly and Tallis was still none the wiser about the secret meeting.

Poppy, by prior arrangement, had a private meeting with Tallis pointing out the possibility of being uncovered by a medical scan and had discussed what work needed to be done. Tallis had been hesitant at first but had finally agreed to everything because he knew that she was right. He had a follow up meeting which he brought his Father to in order to keep him up to date and then had agreed to have the first treatment last weekend. They decided to use weekends in order to give Tallis plenty of time to recover.

"My leg and my hand are going to get a bit of work done. Nothing too bad," he said vaguely.

"That doesn't sound like it'll be much worse than last week. How many treatments are you getting?" Hermione asked. She too knew exactly what needed to be done as well as the schedule but she didn't want to reveal that. Everyone was worried because Tallis had refused to express any of his objections or concerns over the last treatment—the one repairing the damage from his uncle's repeated rape. She was certain that he was concerned about it but he simply wouldn't talk about it.

"Just one more after tomorrow's. Nothing too serious." Hermione and Ron exchanged quick looks.

"That's good. Can we visit you during your treatments?" Hermione asked.

"I guess. Poppy comes down to our rooms for them instead of using the Infirmary. You'll need to be careful sneaking down though. It will be nice to have someone to chat with while I am lying there waiting for my bones to regrow. I can't move too much or else they won't heal properly."

"That sounds good. We'll sneak down after breakfast in the invisibility cloak. Tell your Father to expect us so he won't get upset when he opens the door and doesn't see anyone." Ron said. Tallis nodded and the group was quiet for a moment.

"How has everyone been with you two since Harry Potter disappeared?" Tallis asked nervously. He had been remarkably shielded from the whole Harry Potter backlash since he didn't read the Daily Prophet anymore and the students now knew better than to ask him remotely personal questions. Many of them still feared him a bit after feeling the excess magic in the air after Malcus Perry had angered him so much. The rumor of his great strength had simply been unquenchable. The rumor had been helped along by that damn article written over the summer that boasted about his NEWT scores.

"It honestly hasn't been as bad as I expected it to be, mate. I mean the first week or so was bad, I'll admit it, but it's gotten a lot better. I think people are finally realizing that we really _don't_ know anything. They do try to look at our "Harry Potter" letters though. Good thing you thought to charm the paper for them."

"Where did you get that charm anyway?" Hermione asked.

"I adjusted the charm that they put on that new translation parchment that they sell at the quill and parchment store down in Hogsmeade. I just made it such that it appears in an unknown language to anyone who isn't you."

"What language?"

"Parseltongue. You two are burning them after you read them, aren't you? I mean, I don't say anything too important in them but I'd rather not risk Voldemort getting his hands on them. At the very least he'd pick up on my new signature."

"Don't worry, mate. Hermione even makes me burn mine in a separate dish and then toss the ashes in the fire once I'm done."

"It is entirely possible Ronald for someone to activate the floo when you toss your letter into the fire and for them to get hold of it. Perhaps unlikely, but possible still," Hermione lectured. Ron rolled his eyes in response. She thought of the most unlikely scenarios and then stringently protected her friends against them, even when they told her that she didn't need to.

"Have you two been practicing the password to open the chamber? It would be good if you could come down here without me, if you needed to."

"Yes but it's damn hard, Tallis!" Ron whined. "Whoever made this stupid language should be cursed from here to Sunday."

"Erm…snakes made the language, Ron," Tallis said, trying not to laugh. "It's only one word. I'm sure you can manage it."

Hermione said the password that she had been working to learn for the past month. It was nearly impossible to twist her mouth to form the words properly. She smiled though when Tallis nodded at her, indicating that she had gotten it correct. They turned to Ron who sighed and tried it as well. His attempt to say "open" in Parseltongue ended up somehow coming out "chicken," making Tallis laugh.

"Well you can just give the bloody password, Mione. I'm done learning it."

"It really would be better if you could do it yourself, Ron. There may come a time that you need to give it because Hermione isn't with you or can't for some reason. Keep trying," Tallis encouraged.

"Stupid Parseltongue" Ron muttered again as he packed up his bag. "When can we meet down here again?"

"Let's try for every Wednesday night. Does that work for you two?"

"Seems fine for me. We have Quidditch every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evening."

"How about Sunday mornings as well, right after breakfast?" Hermione put in.

"That works for me. We rarely schedule detentions on Sundays and if there are any I'm sure that Father will take them. I'll see you guys in a few days," Tallis said, giving them quick hugs goodbye.

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A/N: we'll see what's going on with Dumbledore in a few chapters. I promise I haven't forgotten him! Thanks for all of the reviews!


	39. Hermione's Protection

A/N: A bit more than a week after Chapter 38. 

Votes are still at about the same levels since only a few people have added votes in their reviews. To review, that's:

A. We have a trial, either big and revealing or small. **57 votes so far**

B. We do not have a trial. **11 votes so far **

C. We avoid the whole issue of a trial and have Voldemort capture/kill Dumbledore and potentially out his deeds to the world. 7 votes so far 

It is looking as if there will be a trial of at least some magnitude. I'll post my official comments on this in the next chapter since I did tell you guys you had until Wednesday to vote. Thank you again for all of the wonderful comments, both for the poll and for regular reviews. Your comments always inspire me to stop messing around on the Internet and write some more.

Incidentally, I have begun another fic called the Black Prince that should appease everyone who lost the last vote, wanting a dark Harry. It is a Snarry fic with Dark!Harry. I'm going to write a bit more before I post anything for that though.

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Chapter 39 

Tallis lay back in his bed, nervously clutching his heavy blue blanket to his chest as if it could protect him. He was completely naked under the blanket, ready for Madame Pomfrey to begin his final treatment. He hadn't minded having his bones regrown. It was uncomfortable and irritating, but it wasn't terribly traumatic. Last weekend he had his left hand and his left thigh bone regrown and the weekend before that he had done his right collarbone and the ribs that Madame Pomfrey had been concerned about. But this…this was different.

It had been explained to him that removing the scar tissue would be much more invasive than his previous work since Madame Pomfrey couldn't simply point her wand at a large area and vanish whatever needed to be vanished as she had done for the bones. It simply wasn't possible to do that with skin. The work here was painstaking and had to be done meticulously and slowly since mistakes could not be corrected later with a subsequent operation. They had to get it perfect the first time around. That meant that if he freaked out and begged her to stop they were faced with her either ignoring her patient's request—a terrifying thought for a rape victim—or else stopping and risking later exposure by partially healed scarring. They had already explained the importance of these medical procedures to him and he had already agreed that they should be done. But now when he was faced with it he was terrified.

He looked up nervously when Madame Pomfrey, his Father, and Bill all entered the room together. He knew that Ron and Hermione were waiting in the sitting room, wanting to be there for him but also giving him his privacy. "Are you sure we have to do this?" he asked nervously, clenching the blanket in his white fists.

"Yes, Tallis," Poppy said patiently. "I've shown you the charts and your own scans. You've seen it yourself. We need to do this. It won't be that bad. Just an hour or two and we'll be done with the bad part and the new skin will be growing."

"Oh." Tallis didn't sound remotely comforted. It was clear to the three of them that Tallis was trying to remain calm. Bill stepped closer to the bed and sat on the edge, reaching out to comfort his scared boyfriend. Tallis scooted to the far end, avoiding his arms. "I…I'm sorry. I just can't…" Tallis faded away again. "I can't do this, I can't do this!" he finally burst out. "Please go away" he begged all of them, desperate to have them leave. "I need Hermione" he whispered.

Madame Pomfrey and the others exchanged looks and decided it was best to comply for the moment. If they needed to put the treatment off for another week then so be it. It did need to be done soon though. They returned to the sitting room to find Hermione and Ron sitting on the sofa together. "What's going on?" Ron asked, knowing that they couldn't possibly be done already.

"He asked to see Miss Granger" Severus said, and then quickly stepped aside for Hermione to rush down the hall to her friend.

She lightly tapped on the door and pushed it open. The sight that met her eyes made her cringe. Tallis had wrapped himself tightly in his blankets and was huddled up near the headboard, staring ahead of himself blankly. She had known that this scared him more than he had been willing to admit. "Tallis? Are you ok?"

He looked over at her with deadened eyes. "I can't do it. I know I need to but I can't."

She walked forward slowly and sat on the bed next to him, waiting for him to be comfortable with her presence. She knew that soon he would want the comfort and would curl up next to her. "What are you so scared about? What specifically worries you?"

"I don't know. I know she can't hurt me like him. I know it. And she's treated me before. It's just never been for such a long time. An hour, Mione, a whole hour. And maybe even longer! I don't think I can stay calm that long. And if I ask her to stop and she doesn't I don't think I can handle it. I'll lose it, I know I will."

"How about if you were asleep—if you took a potion? Would that help?"

"No! I don't want anyone to touch me when I don't know it." Tallis sounded truly terrified at the idea of such a thing. "I just…"

By this point Tallis had leaned heavily into her side and she had started stroking his hair, trying to keep him calm and talking. He hadn't expressed any reservations with the treatment before this and they all knew that he had been scared. Since he wouldn't talk about it though no one knew how to make it better for him. She heard Tallis start talking again in a bare whisper that she had to strain to hear. "What if he finds me here, and I'm asleep? What if he hurts me again?"

"Oh Tallis, he's a muggle and couldn't ever come here. Not to mention you're locked safe behind some of the world's most heavily warded doors. And you have Ron and Bill and your dad all here, not to mention me and Poppy. No one could ever hurt you while you're here."

"But what if? I know he…I'm just scared. What if?" He was fully aware that his fear was completely irrational. He had had similar conversations with Hermione before but no amount of comforting ever made him feel better. This fear was too old and too rooted in his mind for him to simply tell himself that he was being irrational and get over it.

"It's alright to be scared, Tallie. And it's also alright to not make much sense, especially given these circumstances. You can't control your fears. But you can realize that you have five people here who love you and would never let anyone hurt you again. I promise you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you during the treatment if you agree to take a sleeping potion. I think it would really help you."

"You'll stay by me the whole time? You won't leave me?" he asked desperately.

"Not for a second. I'll stay right there until you wake up."

"Just you and Poppy?"

"Just the two of us. You'll be safe, I promise. Have I ever let you down before?"

"No" he said hesitantly, thinking the whole thing through carefully. "You'll stay here?" he asked again, wanting confirmation.

"Yes" she said simply. She didn't know what else to say to convince him at this point.

"And you won't let anyone else in here?"

She held in a deep sigh. He was feeling more vulnerable than usual because of the treatment. He was evidently concerned about any of the men being near him while he was still in a forced sleep. "No, Tallis. Just me and Poppy. She'll have to leave to go back to the Infirmary but I'll stay right here. I won't move at all. And you know I'll keep you safe. I always have."

Tallis sat in silence for a few moments as she patiently threaded her fingers through his long hair, trying to keep him calm and focused. "Alright" he said softly. "I'll do it, but only if you stay right here. You'll stay with me?" he asked one more time.

"I won't leave even for a moment. Let me go tell Poppy that we're ready." She slipped off the bed and hurried to tell the others what had been decided. Everyone looked up expectantly when she entered the room. "He'll do it" she said but then held out her hands when Severus and Bill stood up to go into the room. "He'll do it but he requested a sleeping potion so that he doesn't panic." Severus nodded at this and grabbed one out of a small cupboard in the kitchen. He once again prepared to go into his son's room.

Hermione grabbed his sleeve to stop him. "There's more. I…you all need to realize that he's panicked right now and not thinking quite right. He doesn't really feel this way." Everyone nodded, confused as to what she would be saying. "He doesn't want anyone to come near him while he is having the treatment or until he wakes up. He knows that Poppy needs to be present for the actual treatment and he wants me with him to protect him but that is all." She waited nervously for her words to sink in.

The men all looked devastated as they realized that they, as men, had been barred from the room. _They_ were the ones that Hermione was going to be protecting Tallis from. "He doesn't trust us?" Severus cringed as he realized how clear his pain was in his voice. He hadn't been able to mask the hurt at all. "He doesn't trust me?"

"He thinks I would really hurt him? I've never done anything like that to him. He's always been fully awake and aware before I started anything, even just a kiss. Why would he think that?"

"You all have to realize that he is nearly having a panic attack as it is. He knows he's being irrational. The fear started as a fear of his uncle finding his way to Hogwarts while he is incapacitated by a sleeping potion or something similar…a fear that he has held for a while. He told me about that fear two years ago."

"Why didn't he tell me about it?" Ron asked, clearly hurt that his friend hadn't confided in him.

"He thought you would laugh at him, Ron. He knows it sounds absurd. He's had nightmares though about his uncle finding him somewhere and not being able to run or fight back because of a potion."

"Is that why you sometimes stayed in the dorm with us? Is that what was going on?"

Hermione nodded slowly, praying that Tallis wouldn't be upset that she had revealed the truth to Ron. She had stayed the night a few times in the boy's dorm over the years, watching over her friend when he had asked it of her when the insomnia got too bad. It was one of the few things that helped him to get a decent night's sleep. "You know he's always told me a bit more than he's told you of his fears and nightmares. He feels more comfortable telling me, probably just because I'm a girl. You know he always tries to look strong near you all. He feels that people baby him enough because of his size. He's convinced that if he told you about these dreams and his fears then you lot wouldn't treat him like an adult, and he thinks that Ron will see him as less of a man for admitting to such nightmares."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Bill exclaimed. "None of us would ever make fun of him for his dreams."

"He's a scared, abused, seventeen year old boy, Bill," Hermione said sharply. "When you were seventeen would you have run to your best _male _friend and poured your heart out to him about your most recent nightmare?"

Bill shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably. She was right…there was no way he would have done that. He probably _still_ wouldn't do that. He might tell Tallis but he certainly wouldn't tell Charlie or Ron or any of his other brothers.

"So he's just scared of the muggle coming here and raping him again? Just tell him that he can't anymore."

"Yes, that would be a perfect solution, Weasley" Severus snapped impatiently. "Then he will know exactly what happened when we visited the muggles and he will be angry with all of us. You know he wants to protect the creatures out of some fit of Gryffindorish behavior."

"Listen," Hermione interrupted before things got too out of hand. "His nightmare doesn't make much sense, as most nightmares do not but it is a recurring dream of his that he has at least a few times a month—sometimes more. He's terrified of it, regardless of how rational it may or may not be. Frankly, even if you _did_ decide to tell him about his uncle I doubt that it would calm him down at all. He's beyond that right now."

"But why is he scared of us?" Bill asked quietly.

"He is terrified of this treatment. I don't think that you, any of you, understand how much this scares him. His fears have gotten completely out of control. I assure you, he is totally aware that he is being irrational and that you wouldn't really hurt him but it is a very real fear. The only way that I could talk him into having the treatment at all was if I stayed at his side the entire time and didn't let anyone in until he woke up. I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do."

"But I've been with him before when he's been knocked out by potions. I've slept next to him before when he's unconscious!"

"I know Ronald" Hermione snapped but then calmed almost immediately. She knew it had to hurt to have your best friend admit so openly that he didn't trust you. "I've told you…he's having a minor panic attack and is not being rational. You boys need to stop taking offense. He doesn't really know what he's saying right now. The only way he would let any of you near him though anytime soon is if he doesn't take the potion. If he doesn't take the potion I guarantee that he will have a full fledged panic attack the second Poppy doesn't stop when he asks her and we all know that she cannot stop if we intend to properly protect him. I don't think that we could survive a panic attack of the proportions that I am sure this would entail, especially in such close quarters."

"Miss Granger is correct," Severus said heavily. "We will do as he asks. Here is a potion that should keep him completely knocked out and unable to move for eight hours. Unfortunately, he cannot take a partial dose and wake up sooner because it might not work properly. He must drink the entire thing. It might be best to not tell him that it will arrest his movement, he might panic, given the situation. Poppy will need him still though. If it will make him feel better then tell him that none of us will leave the apartment until he is fully awake and functional again."

Hermione nodded and took the potion. "Are you ready, Poppy?"

"If you are. Please do not allow anyone or anything to interrupt us until I come out of the room, gentlemen. This is delicate work and I've never treated a case quite like this before. I need to concentrate fully on Tallis."

The men turned almost as one toward the liquor cabinet as the women left. Severus nearly snorted at the idea that there were two Weasleys who knew where he stored his liquor. His life had changed so much in only a few short months.

Hermione and Poppy knocked lightly on Tallis' door and entered. He was once again lying on his bed, but was still clutching his blanket to himself nervously. He looked up at Hermione with pleading eyes, clearly still terrified. Hermione turned toward the door and cast an extremely strong locking charm and a few additional charms to repel people in general and one aimed specifically at men. Tallis gave her a nervous smile, thanking her for doing that while he was still awake so he would be able to take his potion without worry that she would forget.

"Now dear, we have a sleeping draught here for you to take. This will keep you asleep for around eight hours. I expect my part of the work to take around one hour. Before I leave I will give you another potion to help the new skin to develop more quickly. You can look at that now to make sure it is safe, if you wish. After I am done I will leave but I will return in a few hours to check to make sure that everything is working as planned and I will return around the time that the potion should be wearing off. Does that sound alright?" She ran through the schedule of things that would be happening to him in order to calm him down some. She knew he always felt better when he knew what to expect.

Tallis nodded nervously and held out a shaking hand for the potion. "You need to drink all of that, Tallis," Hermione said softly. He looked over at her once again, seeking comfort. She smiled and sat on the edge of his bed, taking his hand in hers. "I'm here now, Tallie, you're safe. I won't ever let anything hurt you. I promise that I won't let anyone in this room beside Poppy Pomfrey until you wake up," she reassured him. She was well aware that he was barely holding it together and hearing her promise again would calm him down. "Do you want to set a password for us so I know it is her when she returns?"

"Februare."

Hermione smiled lightly, feeling a twinge of pain at his choice. Did he really feel that he needed to be purified? "All right. Are you ready?"

"You won't leave me?" he asked one last time, desperately.

"No, I promise you Tallis, I will not leave your side even for a second."

Tallis nodded his thanks and drank the potion quickly, settling back in the bed. Hermione lightly stroked his hands until he let go of his death grip on the blanket and his eyes drifted closed. Once he was completely out she looked up at Poppy who was struggling to hold her emotions in check. She hated seeing her young friend in such pain. "Let's begin," she said quietly. The two women pulled the blanket off the naked young man and quickly but gently turned him onto his side, preparing him for treatment. Hermione could do little to assist, having no training in medical magic, but she stayed within touch of her small friend the entire time. She knew that he would have no way of really knowing but she had promised him that she would stay near him and she would not do anything to break her promise.

A bit more than an hour later, Poppy straightened up and started putting away the instruments she had brought with her to scan him and read the levels of scar tissue. She and Hermione gently rolled him back onto his back, propping him up slightly with pillows. "I just need to give him a potion to encourage the new skin to grow more quickly. Can you prop him up a bit more?" Hermione slid partially underneath her friend, pulling him up to nearly a sitting position and supporting him against her chest. She helped Poppy open his mouth and encourage the potion down her sleeping friend's throat. The women gently lay him back down and tucked the blanket tightly around him.

Hermione didn't move from her place on the bed. Poppy smiled at her, albeit weakly. "I'll be back in three hours to check on him and give you a bit of a break if you need it."

"I should be fine. Thank you though."

Poppy packed up the rest of her things and quickly left the room. Hermione put up the few spells that she had taken down to allow Poppy to safely leave. She knew that the men were probably worried but she wasn't about to betray her friend, regardless of how irrational he was being. Too many people had betrayed him when it really mattered for her to even consider a small betrayal.

Severus and the Weasleys looked up anxiously when Poppy finally emerged from the room, about an hour and a half after she had disappeared into it. "How is he?" Bill asked anxiously.

"Sleeping comfortably. I am pleased that Hermione managed to talk him into the sleeping potion. I wanted to suggest it earlier but I didn't think he would ever agree. Every time I've suggested one previously he has refused adamantly. It certainly made it easier."

"May we look in on him, just for a moment?" Severus asked desperately. Damn it, his son was hurting and scared and he wanted to comfort him! Alright, if he was entirely honest with himself it would be more of a comfort to him to see his son sleeping peacefully since clearly Tallis wouldn't be awake or aware enough to take comfort in anything right now. This was his first forced separation from his son since he this summer and it made him nervous. The two had obviously been separate before, even for relatively long periods of time, but it had always been by choice and if he wanted to see his son he could do so. This time though, he had no choice in the matter and it was killing him. As much as he hated to say it he was nervous about losing him and liked to keep an eye on the young man.

"I wouldn't recommend it. Hermione knows quite a few powerful spells and the vast majority of the spells currently on that door are aimed to attack men particularly. Unless you wish to be faced with incurable boils and a castration jinx that lasts for two weeks, I would remain where you are," she said as she left the apartment.

The men all turned pale hearing the spells she had put up. "Damn it, that girl's too smart for her own good" Ron said, clearly irritated that she had picked her spells so well. She knew that most of them would have dealt with the boils but wouldn't risk the castration jinx.

"You're the one dating her" Bill slurred, clearly drunk. He had known that with Hermione standing as guardian for his lover that he stood absolutely no chance of getting in to see him anytime soon. She was as fierce as a lioness when it came to protecting Tallis. He was still reeling over the pain of Tallis' mistrust as well, even though he knew that he shouldn't take it personally. Tallis had done similar things in the past and, as much as each time hurt him, he also understood as well as he could that there would always be times when Tallis needed to keep him away. It still hurt though.

"I'm not dating her!" Ron protested as he finished his drink, clearly drunk as well. "We're just fu…erm…" he tried to edit his words for the sake of his professor but was unable to find a more appropriate word in his drunken haze.

"Please spare me the sordid details, Ronald" Severus said waspishly, not even realizing that he had used Ron's first name. "I really don't wish to know about anything you may or may not do with Miss Granger. I hear enough details slip about my son and Bill, I _really_ don't need anymore information about the sex lives of the teenagers at Hogwarts. When the hell did I become the go to person for sex therapy here?"

Bill laughed lightly. "Come off it, Sev. You know you were happy when Tallis went to you for advice."

Ron turned slightly green. "Tallis asked _you_ for sex advice?"

"I'll have you know I _do_ have a sex life…albeit a decidedly straight one and not very active recently." He looked surprised at his admission and glared at the bottle of whiskey responsible for his loose tongue. "Damn whiskey," he muttered as he finished another drink. "When did Tallis tell you that we had spoken? Did you have your talk yet?"

"Hm? About what? He didn't tell me what he spoke with you about, just that he did."

"Erm…I'll leave that to him, shall I?"

"So what did he want to know? Your favorite position? Something new to spice up his sex life?" Ron asked, pouring everyone another round.

"Not exactly. It was something to do with that bastard uncle of his." The mood turned serious again as they all thought about Vernon.

Bill looked desolately down the hall. "I wish I could see him. I wish I could have been there for him."

"We all do" Severus said quietly.

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A/N: For those inquiring minds, Ferbuare is the Latin root of our current (English) February, meaning "to purify."


	40. Dumbledore's Mistakes

A/N: I believe that we _will_ have a trial. I have worked it out though so that it will not create a huge media frenzy (you'll find out how in a few chapters). Many people reminded me that trials can ultimately be a healing experience for the victim. I am not certain that I personally would find it such but I understand that it is for many people. 

A lot of you were worried about Tallis having to testify. That won't be necessary for a conviction. This will be a murder trial although the past abuse _will_ come up. Tallis will have no need to testify since there is no solid connection between Tallis Snape and Harry Potter. As only a vague acquaintance of Harry Potter who hasn't seen him for months there would be no reason for Tallis to be called to testify. Evidence will be gained through the testimonies of the Dursleys under truth serums and the medical evidence that Poppy Pomfrey had been gathering over the years.

Anyhow, that's all for now on the topic. I am strongly leaning toward having Voldemort involved in some way and I am leaning against revealing who Tallis is. We'll vote on that as well as the punishments later. For now, thank you very much for the wonderful opinions. You helped me immensely and I have a huge stack of notes that I have taken about your reviews. Thank you again.

PS. Sorry it took me so long to post this. Stupid arthritis. Stupid job search. Stupid need to pay bills. I hate being a grown up. My kitty needs her kibble though so I persevere.

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Chapter 40 

Dumbledore sat in his office alone, thinking the recent events through. Things were not progressing as he had expected them to. First off, Harry Potter was supposed to side with _him_ on this whole parentage issue. He had pushed Severus to be a bastard to the boy since his first day, thinking that would be enough to turn Harry off of ever developing a relationship with his Father. Clearly, his plan had not worked. Maybe he should have revealed the boy's parentage in a slightly different way, making Severus look worse. He had come out rather well in the whole thing, regardless of Harry's mother claiming that she believed that Severus might hurt their son. Albus had been banking on Harry siding with his sainted mother in the whole issue. He had spent years building her up as a paragon of motherhood and love for the boy—a woman who loved her son _so much_ that she gave up her life for him. Granted, the woman would have died no matter what she had done, but the boy didn't need to know that, did he? How in the hell had he decided to side with a Death Eater over her?

If he was entirely honest with himself he realized that the boy hadn't really picked sides, per say, but it was still irritating. Everyone knew that Severus was a worthless Death Eater. How could the boy not be upset that he had a Dark wizard for a Father instead of James Potter? James might have been slightly arrogant and a bit of a bully but he had always been firmly on Dumbledore's side. Didn't the stupid boy realize that?

The second problem had followed hard on the first. He had realized his mistake soon after the Snapes had left his office but planned to correct it later in the day. He needed to separate the boy from his Father so that he would once again depend only on himself. He needed to prevent any possible relationship from forming. He had even contemplated actually sending the boy away for training to further isolate him—ironically, in a manner very similar to the story that the Snapes had concocted to keep Harry at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, the Snapes had left Hogwarts and were hidden safely away in the mystery Snape manor before he could stop them.

When he started hearing from Severus over the summer he thought that he was gaining ground back, especially when he learned that he and his son wanted to return to Hogwarts and begin an apprenticeship program. It helped that the boy would be apprenticed to Poppy Pomfrey. He had worried for a while that he would ask to apprentice under the new DADA teacher and he was too uncertain of Remus Lupin's loyalty for that to happen. He was concerned that the werewolf would pick the boy over himself. He knew that as a dark creature that he was liable to go to Voldemort's side. He had never really trusted him anyway, half-breed monster that he was. At least Poppy had no ties to Lily Evans Potter or Severus Snape. She was a nice witch of an old but, unfortunately, not entirely pureblood family and sure to stay on his side.

But now that the Snapes were back at school things were not working out quite as planned. Oh, Severus still came to Order meetings as well as all staff meetings and any random meetings that Albus called him for, but he was getting no closer to the boy than he had been when they were still tucked away at the manor. For the life of him he couldn't seem to get within ten feet of the boy without someone heading him off! He saw him at meal times but never without his Father or that oldest Weasley or the Malfoy brat at his side.

He had been certain that the boy wouldn't be able to pull off the charade and that the world would discover him within a matter of days, if that. If nothing else he thought he could count on the youngest Weasley giving him away. The boy had thrown a wonderfully public fit what Harry had been entered into the Triwizard Tournament. Why the hell couldn't he do so now—especially when seeing his friend consorting with young Malfoy of all people!

All in all, he didn't know what to do. Voldemort had been holding off on attacks recently, leading him to believe that there was going to be a big one soon. He kept being reassured that the boy was ready to fight Voldemort but he couldn't get near the boy to tell for himself. Not to mention he needed to keep a watchful eye on him. He was developing into entirely too strong a wizard to be left alone. He would need to be taken care of soon after he served his purpose and got rid of Voldemort.

It would be so much easier if the boy would get close to him again! He had originally planned to slowly drain the boy of his power, leaving the boy little more than a squib, once he had defeated Voldemort. But to do that he would need constant and close access to him as well as his complete trust—all things that he definitely lacked right now. That left him with few options. He could kill the boy or he could convince everyone that he would become the next Dark Lord and have him jailed.

Actually, that wouldn't be too bad. He was halfway there already with such a dark Father. Yes, that would do nicely. He smiled again, having worked everything out quite nicely. Of course, with this plan he wouldn't receive the extra boost of power but he would still remain the most powerful wizard in the world with Voldemort and the Snape boy out of the way, and that was all that really mattered, wasn't it? He smiled. Yes, this would work well.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Tallis groaned lightly as he shifted in bed. He was incredibly sore after the treatment…something that he had not been expecting. Upon reflection, it made complete sense that he was sore but somehow he had never thought beyond the actual treatment. Hermione's concerned face swam into view.

"How are you feeling, Tallis?"

"Not bad. Can I have some water though?" Hermione rushed to pour him a glass of water and helped him to sit up to drink it. "Where's Madame Pomfrey?" he asked with a sleep raspy voice.

"You woke up a bit sooner than we expected. She should be here shortly though."

Tallis nodded again. "Thanks for staying with me, Mione. I'm sorry I…I just, I'm sorry. I don't know what was wrong with me."

"It's perfectly alright, Tallis. Like I told you before, everyone has some irrational fears. Look at mine! You know how I get about tests and school. Your fears are at least things that make sense to be worried about, unlike mine. Don't ever be afraid to tell me when you need me. I tell you often enough that I need you," she said, trying to make him feel better. "That's what friends do—we take care of each other, even when it doesn't make any sense."

"Are they all mad at me?"

"Mad? Whatever for?" He glared at her lightly. She knew damn well why they might be mad. "Hurt, more like," she finally conceded. "No one was mad even for a minute. It just took them a bit to understand that it wasn't them specifically you were worried about but more the situation in general. They'll be fine, I'm sure."

"What have they said?"

"I have no idea. I told them what was going on, explained it for a few minutes then came back here. I haven't seen them since."

"They didn't even try to come in?" Hermione settled down near the footboard to make it easier to talk with Tallis.

"I put a castration curse on the door. It only would have lasted for about twenty-four hours but I had Poppy tell them it lasted two weeks. They've kept their distance."

Tallis smiled broadly. That was his Hermione, always ready to fight tooth and nail whenever he asked for her help, and more than willing to lie or cheat her way to defend her friends when necessary. "Thank you Mione. I…no matter how completely irrational I act you still make me feel ok about it. Thanks. I mean, for being you…for being my friend. Thanks for everything."

Poppy knocked on the door and poked her head in. She brightened instantly upon seeing Tallis awake and sitting up, albeit supported by a thick stack of pillows. Hermione sat at the end of the bed across from her patient, their legs intertwined. "Password?" Hermione asked, just as she had done earlier when Poppy had dropped in to check on her sleeping patient.

"Februare." She turned to Tallis, smiling happily. "I see you're up. How are you feeling, dearie?"

"OK. Is it normal to be a bit sore?" Tallis asked, blushing lightly.

"Sore as in badly torn and bleeding or sore as in the way you feel after a long night with Bill?" Poppy asked, trying to get an honest answer. Tallis always had a hard time admitting to pain on a remotely accurate scale so she tried to give examples instead. She found that he was much more honest that way. He always thought that his pain was at a level of a 2 or 3…no doubt comparing it to the pain of having a bone broken and remain untreated for weeks on end. Any normal student would put the same pain level that he declared to be a 3 at an 8 or 9. It was impossible to tell when she was getting accurate readings from him when they involved numbers. Examples though, typically worked well, and then she could just convert it in her mind.

"Erm…a bit more than long night sore. More like long night sore and early morning without much preparation sore."

Poppy smiled. Looks like he wasn't falling at all short on the physical aspect of his relationship with Bill if such a situation happened often enough that he knew it as its own category of soreness. "Yes, dear, that is perfectly normal. You'll probably feel that way for a day or two, though it should lessen nearly hourly. You won't have any discomfort at all by Tuesday. Do you mind if I run a few tests on you?" At Tallis' wary look she qualified. "Only tests with my wand, nothing under the covers." He nodded at her but still held the blankets tightly.

She stared at the results as they appeared before her and nodded in approval. "Everything looks as it should. All of the scarring was safely removed and the new skin seems to be growing well. I'd say this was a success."

Tallis grinned. "Thank you."

"Would you like to see the boys now? They're all out in the sitting room. I can send them in, if you would like."

"I'd kind of like to get out of bed if I may."

"I'll send one of them in to carry you. You shouldn't be walking yet. Any preference to who helps you?"

Tallis thought in silence for a few moments. "Maybe my Father?" Tallis asked, worried about his reaction. He knew that he had hurt him. Ron had the past six years of getting used to his friend's insanity and Bill was more used to him having crazy moments like he had earlier in the day. It was all still new to Severus. He hoped he wasn't too angry.

"Certainly. I'll go get him," she said, walking out of the room. She reentered the sitting room and glared at the men who were clearly wasted. "Tallis is awake and wishes to visit with you delinquents. I suggest a few sobriety charms. A potion or two wouldn't go amiss either."

The three men immediately sat up, although the movement was too much for Ron and he promptly fell off his seat with a loud thud. Poppy rolled her eyes. Severus pulled out his wand to cast the sobriety charm on himself but thought better of it and passed his wand to the irritated mediwitch to do for him. She quickly cast the charm on him and then turned to repeat it on the Weasley boys, grumbling the entire time about corrupting youth through alcohol.

Severus grabbed a few pepper up potions and hangover-ease potions and tossed them to the two red heads, quickly downing them himself as well. "Tallis wishes to come out here to visit. He should not walk yet and he requested that Severus come to carry him." Severus instantly started toward the room. "Listen to me and listen well, Severus," she said sharply, stopping him immediately. "That boy is terrified that you will be upset with him about his earlier fears. If you do anything to make him believe that you blame him for anything that happened earlier then I will castrate you myself, is that clear?"

Severus nodded quickly, trying to appease the angry mediwitch. "Why on earth would I be angry with him though?"

Poppy sighed. "He's convinced that you will have taken personal offense and will blame him for what he did earlier. Gods help him, he is still scared that you'll get mad at him and give him back to the Dursleys." Severus paled instantly and looked toward his son's door. Merlin, had he really done such a bad job convincing his son that he loved him? That he would always keep him? Poppy took pity on him and lightly patted his hand. "It is a common fear among those who have been abandoned or orphaned, especially among these who have suffered from abuse. Nothing you can say will get rid of it. Only time will truly cure him. He knows, for the most part, that you would never send him back to the Dursleys. He will though, from time to time no matter what you do, have these fears. Don't worry though. You are doing a remarkable job as his Father."

Severus smiled lightly and hurried on to his son's room, passing Hermione in the hall. Hermione looked into the sitting room and sighed, seeing the bottles that littered the room and the general disorder. "Honestly, you two, Tallis is going to see this and know what you were doing during his treatment. Clean up before he gets here!" she said, brandishing her wand like a sword, casting vicious cleaning charms everywhere. The boys instantly jumped into action, trying to avoid a longer lecture.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, we weren't thinking."

Hermione deflated instantly, seeing the deep concern on her friend's face. "It's alright, Ron. I'm sorry I'm so crabby. It's been a long day," she said, accepting comfort from a quick hug.

"I'm sorry, Mi. I'm sure it was even harder for you being in there. How did he do?"

"He was still worried even after we returned and warded the door but once he took the potion he calmed down pretty fast. He's in a bit of pain right now but nothing that Poppy wasn't expecting."

"Thank you for being there for him when we can't be, Hermione" Bill said softly. "He needs you so much. I wish I could do everything for him but I understand that sometimes he needs someone else. I'm glad you can be that person. You're a good friend," he said, giving her a hug as well.

"I know it hurt you to stay out here. He feels bad now that he's awake and thinking more clearly. Try not to hold it against him" she said softly.

"I never would. I have always known that there would be things that he kept from me, either from desire or necessity. And I have always known that I cannot just fix him, no matter how much I may want to. The best I can do is be there for him when he allows me and love every minute I can be near him."

"You're a good man, Bill. He's lucky to have you." The three quieted as Severus came back into the room carrying Tallis wrapped up in a heavy blanket. Evidently he had helped his son pull on some pajama pants because he hadn't asked for either Poppy or Hermione for help earlier and he wouldn't have been able to do it on his own. Poppy normally would redress a patient after such an operation but she knew that Tallis was extremely worried about anything happening to his body while he was unconscious. She knew he would feel better waking up in the same state that he had fallen asleep in. Severus gently set Tallis on the sofa, and then sat down at the other end, puling Tallis' feet into his lap so that his legs were up.

Bill sat down on the ground by Tallis' head, wanting to be close to him. He kissed him lightly on the lips. "I missed you, love. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, now. I'm sorry" he whispered.

"Nothing to be sorry for, Tallis. You know that. I'm just glad that you're ok." Bill lay his head down on the cushion near his lover's hands which immediately started playing with his beautiful auburn hair. Tallis had always been fascinated by its fiery color. Bill smiled and raised his hand to lightly trace Tallis' cheek.

"So, you think you'll be up for the Quidditch game tomorrow?" Ron asked eagerly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Tallis had just been through an incredibly traumatic day and all Ron wanted to talk about was a stupid game. "Honestly Ronald, there is more to life than Quidditch!"

Tallis smiled. Ron could always make him feel better, even if it was just by distracting him. "What time it is?"

"Two o'clock. It's just Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin but it's still Quidditch. Can't miss the first game of the season!"

"I should be able to. I'd love to see it. Maybe we can leave early so Father and Bill can help me up the stairs if I need it."

"Certainly, Tallis," Severus said kindly, knowing that his son loved the sport. He himself had never really cared that much about Quidditch but he knew that for some reason it was important to his son. "Let me know when you want to leave and we will. I can carry you the whole way if you wish." He truly would have no problem carrying his son the entire distance. Despite the gained weight, Tallis was still incredibly light.

"I should be fine to walk most of it if not all of it, I just was worried I may need a bit of help. It is a lot of steps up to the teacher's box so I might need to go slowly."

"Does Hufflepuff stand a chance this year?" Bill asked. Hufflepuff was never very good at Quidditch. They were entirely too fair to cheat like the Slytherins, weren't as obsessed with bravery and victory as the Gryffindors were and lacked the sheer brilliance that helped the Ravenclaws pull in a few wins through their incredibly elaborate plays. Their wins were usually more chance than anything else.

"I've heard they have a good set of chasers this year. They got a set of twins and one of their close friends and the three work well together. Their seeker's still pretty bad but if they get far enough ahead with their goals they still might win."

The boys chatted about Quidditch for the rest of the evening while Hermione and Severus started a separate conversation about the theory behind the Wolfsbane potion. She hadn't been able to join Tallis and Draco the evening before for observation but she was still determined to begin training on it soon. If Draco Malfoy could do it then she was determined to learn it as well. Soon it was nearing curfew and the Gryffindors had to leave for the Tower. Bill took Tallis from his Father and carried him to the bathroom, helping him get ready for bed. He tucked him tightly into bed and looked hesitantly at the spot next to him. Tallis smiled and pulled the blanket back for Bill to crawl in. He quickly stripped and jumped in, pulling Tallis to him and tucking the dark head under his chin, promptly falling asleep.


	41. A Trip to Gringott's

A/N: a bit of a sex scene here. Not actual sex, but definite boy on boy action in a semi-public location. If this bothers you then you should skip from when Bill enters the Snape vault to the end. If you enjoy semi-public sexcapades then read on! 

Sorry for the delay in my posting schedule. It is largely due to being too inspired to work on my other fic (The Black Prince—my dark!Harry fic I posted a few days ago if anyone missed it and wanted to read it). Unfortunately, I haven't written much on this recently. I have a bunch of great ideas it's just a point A to point B problem right now. I'm working on it though. Don't worry—I won't abandon Skin Deep. I hate it when authors abandon fics just when they get interesting.

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Chapter 41 

Today was the first day that Tallis would be actively using healing magic. He wasn't yet ready to use it on a human being but he was finally allowed to cast the spells. Madame Pomfrey had purchased a few dummies for that very purpose. Many witches and wizards were allowed to practice on patients from the beginning because it was unlikely that they could truly damage anyone but with the extreme magical strength that Tallis had no one was willing to take any chances. He could send the spells at the dummies as if they were patients and a magical reading would be performed, letting him know the strength and efficacy of his spell.

"Good morning, Madame Pomfrey!" he greeted cheerily, after seeing that there were two patients in the Infirmary already. He tried to use formal names for the professors when students were near.

"Good morning, Apprentice Snape. Are you ready to begin today?"

Tallis looked toward the two young girls sitting on beds halfway down the aisle, silently inquiring whether they needed assistance. "They're just waiting for the potion to take effect. Botched de-sapping in Herbology." Tallis nodded, smiling lightly. Those plants could be dangerous if you messed up. As young as the girls were the sap was probably not terribly dangerous but it was no doubt uncomfortable or caused some irritating (but not deadly) reactions.

Poppy led Tallis into a side room where the dummies awaited him. She closed the door and activated the spell that was permanently on all of her private doors which allowed her to see and hear anything that happened in the Infirmary. "The first thing that you will be doing is simply trying to send a force of blanket healing magic at the dummy. Don't try to push it to fix anything, don't twist it for any specific illnesses or injuries. Just send a simple blast of healing energy."

Tallis looked at her doubtfully. He had been studying for this moment for almost two months now and he still wasn't entirely certain he understood it. The books were incredibly vague when they described how one went about using healing magic. Apart from explaining that it was a branch of magic all its own no one could actually describe it. Much like mind magics, either you had a natural bent toward them or you didn't. If you didn't then there wasn't much hope that you would ever be able to progress beyond the theoretical part of it.

He held out his wand—a ten and a half inch ebony with phoenix ash and unicorn hair core—toward the dummy and concentrated on healing magic. He wasn't sure if his new wand would hurt him or help him. He hadn't used it very much since he had gotten it over the summer because he had little cause to use it during potion work and he wasn't yet allowed to use healing magic. Aside from using it nonstop during those days when he and his Father were trying to get his spell strength back under control he hadn't used it regularly. In some ways it might help him since he wasn't used to channeling his magic through this specific wand in a certain way yet. At the same time though, it was nerve wracking, casting incredibly difficult and unknown spells on a virtually untried wand.

He pushed harder, trying to get any sort of reaction. Absolutely nothing happened. He lowered the wand and looked toward Poppy, confused as to what he was doing wrong. "Keep trying, dear. The first time's always the hardest." Tallis looked at her incredulously but he obediently turned back to the dummy and tried again, this time trying to physically gather his magic and push it through the wand. Nothing happened.

After about ten minutes on intense focus he gave up and turned to Poppy again. She was still smiling encouragingly at him. "I need to step back into the Infirmary and check on our patients. Keep trying, dearie."

"Don't you have any suggestions?"

"It is different for everyone Tallis. I'm sorry, I really don't have anything useful to tell you. Just keep at it. You'll get it sooner or later, I'm sure. You definitely have the gift, you just need to tap into it." She slipped out of the door, leaving the spell down so that Tallis wouldn't be distracted by the sights and sounds of the busy Infirmary. Tallis turned dejectedly toward the dummy. He wasn't used to this. He had never struggled before like this to get a spell right. Sure, sometimes he needed a few hours to do it but he always got _some_ sort of reaction the first time.

After another thirty minutes of fruitless spell casting Tallis tossed his wand aside and sat down on the small bed and decided to meditate for a few minutes to see if that would help. He forced himself to calm down, breathing slowly, and letting go of his irritation. He traced the threads of his magic to his core as he always did. Once there though, he didn't know what to do to access his healing magic. Poppy and his Father assured him that he did have it but he wasn't able to discern it from his other abilities.

He had long ago learned how to unravel the individual threads of his power and identify them based on his magical gifts. As far as he could tell though, he had identified them all. He couldn't see healing magic. It must be there, he just didn't know how to identify it or seek it out. He pushed around the mass of power for a long time, searching desperately for this new gift. He finally gave up, realizing that his desperation was destroying his meditative state and wouldn't allow him to do any good at all.

He opened his eyes and looked at the clock, shocked to realize that it was already almost lunchtime. He decided to try one more time before leaving for his lunch break. He turned toward the dummy, clutched his wand tightly and concentrated hard on the task at hand. Once again, nothing happened. He sighed and pocketed his wand, opening the door into the Infirmary. Poppy looked up eagerly and just offered his a smile when he shook his head at her. "Don't worry. You'll get it soon enough. Go and have a nice lunch with your Father. Why don't you take the afternoon off to relax? You'll never get it if you're stressing yourself out over it."

Tallis nodded and made his way slowly to the Great Hall. Draco was waiting for him outside, ready to walk in with him. "How did it go?"

"Terribly. I couldn't do anything."

"I hear that's pretty common. It takes some witches and wizards months or even years to access healing magic. I'm sure you'll get it soon."

"Thanks, Dray. How has your day been?"

"Uneventful. Are you needed back in the Infirmary later today?"

"No, Poppy's given me the day off." By this point the boys had reached the front of the Hall and they stood there chatting for a few moments. "Do you have classes?"

"No. I had Herbology but it got canceled. Some sort of sap disaster or something. We should do something."

Tallis got a gleam in his eye that always made the Gryffindors wary. He was planning something big. "Let me talk to my Father. Meet me after lunch."

Draco agreed and quickly sat down at the Slytherin table. Tallis eagerly sat down by his Father. "Were you able to get anything?" Severus asked quietly.

Tallis looked disheartened momentarily but soon perked up. "No, nothing. Poppy gave me the rest of the day off to relax though and I had an idea."

"Yes?" Severus prodded. He was slightly nervous. Tallis had the "Harry Potter" gleam in his eyes. He was planning something. He could only hope that his son's Slytherin side would show through and it wouldn't be some sort of rescue-adventure-disaster type thing.

"Well…I still haven't been able to go through my vaults at Gringott's. I thought that maybe Dray and I could go visit Bill and sort through them." He had been eager to see what was in the Potter vaults since he had finally read his parents' will. They hadn't mentioned anything specific but he was still curious, especially as Bill and Ron told him more about what many Purebloods kept in their vaults. Since he knew nothing about his parents…or, rather, his mum and adoptive Father, he figured that anything he found would give him some insight into their lives.

Severus glared at Tallis. "Do I need to point out that you cannot go through _those_ vaults with Draco?"

Tallis deflated. He _had_ forgotten that Draco didn't know the whole truth. He clearly couldn't take him into the Potter family vaults without some sort of explanation at hand. There was no way that he could convince him that Harry Potter wanted him to go through them. He sighed. "I could still visit Bill. I miss him."

"You just saw him this morning. The boy has practically moved into our quarters. I feel like I'm tripping over Gryffindors at every bloody turn."

"Oh. Is that bad? Should I tell him not to stay as much."

Severus sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose. Merlin, sometimes dealing with Tallis was too much for him. He was really not good at watching his speech and he found himself slipping into snarky bastard mode more often around his son now that they were at school. "It was not said in an attempt to get rid of him, it was merely a statement of fact. You cannot _possibly_ miss Bill yet."

Tallis shrugged his shoulders and smiled sheepishly at his Father. Severus shook his head. "All right, fine. You get this sort of Gryffindorish behavior from your mother I'm sure: it is certainly not from me. You can go to Gringott's but you will not leave the bank, even for a moment. You must remember that Draco's life could be in danger, even by a quick trip to the Quidditch shop. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Tallis grinned, making Severus realize that perhaps the boy had been cooped up for too long if he was that excited about running an errand to a bank. "You can go into some of the Snape vaults and try to find a few artifacts that might be helpful in the fights ahead." Tallis' grin lowered into a simple smile, acknowledging that he was, in fact, paying attention to more than the fact that he could go and snog his boyfriend at work. He knew that he had been given a very real and important job. Ron had sorted through a few of the vaults but had not seen them all by any means. Since they didn't know what they were looking for it was not exactly easy to do.

"Brilliant. Will you make us a portkey or will we floo?"

"Floo there but I'm making you both portkeys for your return. When you arrive you are to find Bill immediately so that he knows to keep an eye out for you two. Do not, under any circumstances, decide to leave."

Tallis rolled his eyes. "I promise, I won't! We'll stay right there. Can I go tell Draco now? It looks like he's done."

"Please make certain that you are not overheard. Gringott's is safe enough but I would rather not risk an attack. I doubt anyone would dare attack anything run by the Goblins but I will not rule it out."

"Ok Hermione," Tallis muttered. He saw his Father's glare increase a bit at being compared to a Gryffindor, albeit the smartest Gryffindor that Hogwarts had seen since Lily Evans. "We really will be careful, dad. I promise. We'll be back before you even miss us!"

The glare had been wiped completely when he heard Tallis call him 'dad.' Tallis had never before knowingly called him that before. If he weren't in the Great Hall in front of hundreds of students he just might smile. He found himself struggling to keep up his blank mask. A hint of a smile crept out anyway. "I know you'll be careful. You know I worry anyway."

"I do. If nothing else I still have my ring. We'll be perfectly fine."

"I'll leave the portkeys in the top drawer of my desk. Have fun."

Tallis waved goodbye to him and ran down to tell Draco the news. Even Draco had been feeling the pinch of forced confinement and was thrilled at the idea of an outing, even if it was only to the bank. The walked down to the Slytherin dorms for Draco to change clothes and then went on to the Snape rooms so that Tallis could drop off his books while Tallis explained what they were looking for. He told Draco that they were looking for potential weapons to use in a fight against Dumbledore and that might help the war effort, knowing that he couldn't act as if the fight with Voldemort was his personal fight too. They stopped by the office to grab the portkeys that Severus had made for them while Draco was changing and then left for Gringott's.

They arrived in the main floo in the lobby of the large bank. The bank was quieter than either boy had ever seen it before. Tallis hadn't been there in years, and when he had been there it was on one of the busier days of the year in Diagon Alley because all of the students were getting ready to go back to school. Draco had been there many times but he was usually there on weekends or busy shopping days. Tallis hesitantly walked up to the counter.

"Excuse me, sir?" The goblin glared at him and Draco suppressed a snicker. Tallis was always so polite. He had never heard anyone refer to a goblin as anything remotely so proper. "Is Bill Weasley here?" The goblin glared harder at him.

"Why would you inquire after Mr. Weasley? What do you need with him?"

"Erm…I…" Tallis blushed lightly, trying to explain to the goblin without telling them that he was asking about him because he wanted a quick make out session with his boyfriend.

Draco stepped in. "He is Master Snape's lover. Tell him that we are here" he said coldly. Tallis looked relieved that he didn't need to deal with it. The goblin glared one more time for good measure but he did leave to go find Bill. Ten minutes later Bill stepped out of an office and caught sight of Tallis and Draco. As usual when he went to work, he had foregone wearing robes. They often got in the way of his more hazardous duties. He looked thrilled to see his boyfriend during the workday. Tallis had never been able to visit him at work before.

"What are you two doing here?"

Tallis quickly stood on his toes to brush a light kiss on Bill's cheek which Bill had to bend down a bit so that his small lover could reach. "Father sent us to look through some of the Snape vaults."

"That's a good idea. Do you know which ones still need to be looked through?"

"All of the odd numbered ones. I think they're on the left side of our hall, I'm not sure."

"I'm a bit tied up right now but when I'm done I'll come visit you two. Be careful. You know Severus has some really dark things in there. I wish he had sent a house elf with you to help."

"We'll be fine. We won't mess with anything if we aren't sure it is safe to touch."

"I have dealt with more than my fair share of dark artifacts and I am well aware of how to recognize them and handle them when necessary," Draco said. "We'll be fine."

"All right. I'll be down soon." He bent down and whispered something in Tallis' ear making him blush and then turned and went back to his office.

"Do I want to know what he just said?" Draco asked, teasing his already blushing friend. Tallis just shook his head, completely bemused, and started walking toward the carts so that they could go back to the Snape vaults. The boys climbed into an empty cart and a goblin shortly joined them to take them down to the Snape vaults. As they pulled up to their destination Tallis' jaw dropped. He had known that they had a hallway of vaults but somehow he had thought that meant a hallway like in the apartment, with three or four doors. This hallway was extremely long—there had to be twenty five vaults on each side, each one under high security.

Severus had already explained to his son that the vaults could be opened by applying his blood to the doors. When Ron had gone to the vaults he had to bring with him a signed note that he handed over to the goblins which contained Snape's magical signature and a drop of his blood. The goblins used the note to disarm the wards surrounding the vaults that Ron wanted to enter. Tallis hesitantly stood before one of the massive doors as the goblin quickly drove away. Draco motioned him to open the door and Tallis nervously complied.

The door opened to a vault stuffed to the ceiling with gold coins. The money was almost nauseating in its totality. "Let's move on, we won't find anything here," Draco said, pulling a dazed Tallis away. The young men shut the door again and heard the protections instantly spring back into place making them both shudder. They walked further down to the next door which Tallis quickly opened. This one would perhaps be more useful. It was full of odd trinkets and furniture. Not the most promising lot but certainly more promising than a mound of gold.

The two split up and started sifting through the various artifacts. Tallis found a stack of old portraits and asked them if any of them knew of anything that might help them. Most of the witches and wizards had been asleep for too long to recall anything immediately but promised to start thinking about it. Tallis moved on to the shelves that lined the wall that were covered with jewelry and trinkets. He sorted through them carefully but again didn't find anything promising.

Draco was having more luck looking through an old trunk. He found some old potions journals that he knew Sev would want to flip through and a small stack of letters written between a Snape many generations back and Desidus Nestirius, the man who had written one of the seminal works on mind magicks. He set those aside to look over more carefully later. They might all just be harmless chatter but they might have some important information from one of the founding fathers of mind magics as they were known today. More significant than the fact that he practically founded modern mind magics was the fact that he had also been the most well versed wizard in his day in the ancient art of mind magic. Perhaps he would reveal some of the forgotten secrets about the long dead art.

Bill stood outside the vault hesitantly, calling out for Tallis. He assumed he was within the vault but he didn't want to find out the bad way that he wasn't. If he was in a Snape vault without a Snape present or blood protection from a Snape then the protections would spring into place. What was not commonly known to wizards outside of Gringott's employ was the fact that being locked _inside_ a vault was the least of a thief's worries. The protections the high security vaults had would not only go into lockdown but they could also liquidate a man in seconds if he wasn't supposed to be there.

Tallis rushed forward, thrilled that he could finally kiss Bill properly. He threw himself into Bill's arms pulling him into the vault and was instantly lifted off his feet in a mind numbing kiss. Tallis wrapped his legs around Bill's waist pulling him in closer, rubbing his suddenly half hard member against Bill's answering hardness. Who knew that a Gringott's vault could be such a turn on? Moaning softly, he begged Bill to take him to another vault. "We can't love, or Draco will get hurt. You can't leave the vault with him in it."

Tallis reluctantly put his feet back on the floor but didn't step away from the embrace. "Why not?" he pouted.

"The Snapes can be a nasty family, Tallis. They have the highest security on their vaults. It is dangerous for a non-Snape to be in here without your protection." Tallis wasn't ready to give up. He pressed his palm against his lover's straining cock, making Bill moan as he rubbed lightly. Tallis quickly undid the button on Bill's pants and unzipped them, squeezing his small hand around Bill's thick member. "Merlin Tallis," Bill moaned. "You'd better stop now…I can't—"

Tallis squeezed harder, pulling a pearly drop from the leaking cock. "Oh Merlin" he groaned, giving in. Draco heard the commotion and peeked around a large shelf that had been obstructing his view and realized what they were up to. Tallis stood in front of Bill and was blocking Draco's view of him but it was blatantly obvious what he was doing. Tallis evidently _did_ have a bit of an exhibitionist streak in him. Draco smirked and went toward the back of the vault, busying himself with the trunks at the very rear.

Bill gasped quietly as he came into Tallis' hand. Tallis slowly started to lick his hand clean, inserting each long finger into his mouth to savor the last of it. Bill pulled Tallis closer to him and, feeling that he was still hard, thrust his thigh between Tallis' parted legs, rubbing him roughly through his robes. Tallis clutched his shoulders tightly as he rocked back and forth against his hard thigh, a never ending stream of moans slipping from his parted lips. He wavered at the edge of his peak for a long moment, enjoying the rough ride but needing more. Bill bent down and lightly bit his full bottom lip, thrusting harder into Tallis and nearly lifting him off the ground. He swallowed Tallis' quiet scream as he came hard in his pants.

Tallis collapsed into Bill's arms, supported almost entirely by Bill's tall frame. "I can't believe you just made me do that in a Gringott's vault with a bloody Malfoy not twenty feet away."

Tallis snickered softly and leaned further Bill's embrace. "You loved it. You know it. I'm sure Draco was at least thirty feet away, really. And we kept our clothes on…mostly."

"You are such a bad influence on me. Merlin, I'm acting like a bloody teenager, getting a hand job at work!"

Tallis just laughed harder. "Come on, we haven't really found anything yet. You can help us look." The two made their way further back into the vault, looking through shelves and chests as they found them. After another hour's search they all decided to move on to another vault, hoping for more luck there. They didn't really know what they were looking for, they were just hoping that they would find something that would help them, either in the fight against Voldemort or in the fight against Dumbledore.


	42. Reading the Documents

A/N: I am so, so sorry it has been so long since I updated! Between the stress of finding a permanent job (I received three job offers last Thursday…when it rains it pours) and the utter uselessness of my dial up recently I haven't been able to be on the Internet at all recently, much less read fics or post my own stories much. At long last though, here is another chapter. 

I have a bit more written for Skin Deep. I had a bit of a note prepared explaining my recent lack of inspiration but my muse struck me yesterday and I am working away once more at Skin Deep. I hope that the delays will shrink again, although I can't promise daily updates anymore. Hopefully I can afford DSL soon though and that will fix some of life's problems.

PS. Sorry this chapter is a bit short. I tried to add to it but it just seemed to need to end where it does. The next chapter will be longer.

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Chapter 42 

Tallis, Hermione and Ron sat around a low table in their study room in the Chamber of Secrets, pouring over some of the documents that he had brought back from the vaults. He had written them short letters asking them to meet him there that night and then he showed up with a huge bag full of books, journals and letters for them to read. Ron was bored already, having only gotten rather mundane accounts of daily activities, a book of recipes, and some letters that debated the usefulness of moonstone in children's medicine. Utter rubbish, the lot of it.

"Have you gotten any further with your healing magic, Tallis?" Hermione asked, breaking one of her own cardinal rules which demanded complete and utter silence when reading anything remotely important.

"Yeah," Tallis grinned. "I got a bit today. Nothing too much but there was some definite healing energy. Now I just need to harness it and focus it a bit better."

"Very impressive, mate. Doesn't it take a lot of people a long time to get?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron. "It takes most people a few months. A select few get it in a matter of a week or two and some people take years. Tallis has tapped into his healing magic faster than anyone else ever recorded before."

"Oh. That's good, mate." Tallis snickered quietly and Hermione rolled here eyes once more. They all settled back into their books quietly, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"I have a thought, mate," Ron interrupted his friends' quiet reading after patiently wading through his manuscript for another thirty minutes. Tallis and Hermione looked up, rather eager to set aside their own dull manuscripts. Neither would admit it but not even _they_ could find interest in what they were reading. "Why exactly can't we get rid of Dumbledore now? I mean, I know you said we need him to lead the Order but do we really? Look at all of the Order members you know personally. Think about the rest that you know of but don't know very well. Are any of them the sort to go off all half cocked if Dumbledore was imprisoned? Yes, they'll panic for a bit, but they'll pull themselves together and fight on. Don't you think?"

Tallis sat utterly still, completely wrapped up in his thoughts. After a few moments he absentmindedly blew some long strands of hair out of his face and then nervously started twirling his quill. "I don't know. I guess you might be right…"

"Well then let's do it! Let's get rid of the muggles and Dumbledore right now!"

Hermione glared at Ron. She knew that there was a lot more to this than a simple 'let's do it.' There were far greater issues at stake, especially for her friend who, like it or not, was still incredibly fragile and emotionally damaged from them. A few months with a loving father could help him but it couldn't magically cure everything.

"I don't know. Does my family really deserve that? They weren't that bad…" he said pensively.

Hermione and Ron's eyes opened widely, alarmed at this new revelation. "Not that bad? Not that bad!" Ron sputtered, unable to express himself.

Hermione tactfully took over. "Tallis…you have to know that they were…they _are_ horrible people. You deserved better than them. No one deserves to live with people like them."

"But do they really deserve to go to jail? To be despised by the entire wizarding world? The world will be after their blood if I say anything. Maybe we should just leave it all be."

Ron was still sputtering incoherently. He was never good at saying the good and thought provoking thing in times like these. Hermione continued. "Tallis, what if they do that to someone else? Now that you aren't there, don't you think they might turn to someone new?" Tallis turned white at her words. He hadn't thought of that. Hermione felt a bit bad about misleading him into thinking that his uncle could be raping other young boys but she held firm. They needed to be brought to trial. Tallis needed it too, although he might not want to admit it yet. Perhaps once the trial was over and they were safely locked away Tallis could let go of some of his fears. Perhaps he could finally gain some closure.

"I…I don't know. I don't want everyone to know. There is no way I could stand trial against them. I just can't. I can't testify against them," he said desperately, looking down at his hands that were twisting his quill into a crumpled mess.

"What if you didn't need to testify?" Ron asked, finally able to get a grip on himself. Tallis looked, up expectantly. "What if they thought you were dead? It would be the Ministry versus the Dursleys, not Harry Potter versus the Dursleys. If everyone thinks you're dead then they can't force you to testify."

"But how will they think I'm dead?"

"We could make a golem," Hermione said hesitantly.

Tallis' brow furrowed as he thought about it all. "But wouldn't that be illegal?"

"A bit," Hermione hedged.

"Mate, think about it. Are you willing to break a tiny law in order to ensure your safety as well as the safety of those around you? Not to mention it would protect you permanently. No one could give you away…no one that would want to, anyway."

"I don't know. It seems kind of mean, blaming my death on people who are innocent." At his friends' glares he rolled his eyes. "Well, innocent of murder, at least."

"If we had a golem though we could send the golem to the house. If the Dursleys never killed it then we wouldn't have a trial. If they did then we would have proof that they were more than willing to commit murder and we would have enough evidence that we…I mean the Ministry could win the trial."

"I…I don't know. I still don't want people to know."

"Most murder cases are closed cases," Ron said helpfully. Tallis simply raised an eyebrow, indicating that he needed to elaborate. "They have spells that won't allow anyone who sits in on it to ever tell more than the bare basics of the facts."

Tallis still didn't look satisfied. The basics were horrifying on their own. Hermione elaborated further, knowing that he was thinking of the muggle versions of closed trials that could potentially result in tell all books and interviews a few years after the fact along with a healthy dose of innuendo and blatant hints to give the truth away to the media. "By that Ron means that they could tell people that the Ministry had a trial against Harry Potter's muggle relatives for child abuse and murder. Full stop. They couldn't really say anything more. Absolutely no details at all about any of it."

"So the only people who would know would be the Wizenmagut and the eighteen person jury?" Tallis said slowly, taking it all in.

"Just about. There would, of course, be a few security personnel, a court reporter, and a few people who were granted leave to sit in on the case. Given who you are that would no doubt include the Weasleys and Remus and perhaps me, if I wanted to." Hermione nervously studied his face, trying to see if he was giving in at all.

"And I wouldn't have to testify? I wouldn't have to be there at all? I don't have to see him again?" Tallis said quietly, twisting his nearly bare quill. The majority of the feather lay in a crumpled heap on his lap.

"Not a bit. You wouldn't have any cause to be there since you didn't really know Harry Potter, at least officially. I don't see how they could possibly ask you to testify. It wouldn't make any sense. And there is no way they would grant you or your Father the right to sit in on the trial. Frankly, I'm not sure that Ron and I would be allowed in aside from testifying."

"Merlin," Tallis breathed. "You'd have to testify, wouldn't you? You'll be there, in the court room. No, no, we can't do this, it's not worth it," he said, starting to panic.

"We have our potions, mate. We couldn't slip up."

Tallis whimpered quietly as he huddled in on himself, wrapping his arms around his knees. Hermione realized the problem. "Tallie, if you don't want us to we won't go at all except for when we have to testify. We won't listen to any of it. We'll arrive just in time to testify and then we'll leave straight off." Tallis looked little comforted. "Just please think about it, Tallis. We're all worried, about Dumbledore especially."

"But this trial won't guarantee anything but a possible jail sentence for the Dursleys," Tallis said, not able to follow their train of thought. He was still too worried about his friends and adopted family members learning the truth, the whole truth. He had worked so hard for so long to protect them, he couldn't let them know everything now.

"There is no way that the Dursleys could stand any kind of trial without it becoming blatantly clear who placed you there to begin with. There is also the fact that they know that you begged to be placed elsewhere for the holidays and that he refused you. Not to mention Poppy will testify, making it clear that he knew exactly what was going on. If all of that fails to condemn him then we will simply testify about his certain knowledge of everything that happened there." Ron finished quickly, pleased that he had gotten it all out. He had been thinking about this for quite a while, trying to find any problems with his plans. There was _no way_ he would put his best mate through the stress of such a trial without guaranteeing his success in bringing down their primary target: Dumbledore. Voldemort was an incredibly important adversary as well but they all knew that it was not yet time for that.

"I need some time," Tallis finally said. "Please just give me a bit of time to think about this."

"Of course. I don't want you to be pressured or forced into doing this, Tallis. No one does. You need to want this too. But before you make a hasty decision you need to make sure you know all the facts meaning that you need to understand how wizards would run a trial like this. If you have any more worries or questions make sure to raise them. I think this could be a really good thing for you, Tallis." Tallis looked at her, confusion evident. "I think it might help you to be able to fight back for once. To have their misdeeds added up and set against them for proper punishment."

"Doesn't everyone deserve forgiveness?" Tallis said softly.

Hermione was quiet for a moment, searching for the proper words. "That's something you need to decide for yourself. But you need to realize that forgiveness and justice are not irreconcilable. You can have a trial and still pardon them privately. Just because you decide to move on with your life—maybe even forgive them—doesn't mean that you can't still have justice."

Tallis nodded but didn't say anything else. The trio settled back into their work, once again picking up the boring texts. They sat in silence for the next hour, meticulously going through each letter or scroll, making sure that they didn't miss anything that might be of service later. They had quite a few large battles ahead of them—Voldemort; Dumbledore; the Dursleys; a possible court trial…the list seemed never ending. They could use a bit of help with any of them.

Suddenly Tallis broke the silence. "Wait a tic…"

Ron and Hermione looked up. "What did you find?" Hermione asked.

"I…sweet Merlin. I need to see my dad." With no further explanation he roughly shoved the rest of the papers he had in his stack to look at into his bag. He carefully spelled the paper that he was interested in to be invisible to anyone but him and indestructible. Ron and Hermione exchanged curious looks but decided to simply follow suit and pack up themselves. By the time they had packed up their papers Tallis was halfway out of the Chamber.

"Wait up, mate! We're coming too!" Ron yelled after him. Tallis slowed down slightly but the others still had to run to catch up. Tallis roughly shoved the invisibility cloak in Ron's face when they reached the entrance with the silent command to put it over himself and Hermione. He didn't bother to see if they had done so, he simply walked as quickly as possible down to the dungeons, glaring at anyone who attempted to stop him for a quick word or question.

He roughly threw the door open. "Dad? Dad!" he called out, impatient to see his father _now_. Hell, he needed him ten minutes ago. He couldn't believe what he thought he might have found. It was simply inconceivable.

Severus came rushing into the room just as Hermione and Ron took the invisibility cloak off. "What's wrong, Tallis?"

"Look at this," Tallis said, thrusting the papers up into his Father's view bare inches away from his face. Severus' eyes scanned the papers at lightning speed, came to an abrupt stop and then went back and started reading even more quickly than before. A shaking hand removed the papers from his son's grasp.

"Merlin," he whispered hoarsely. "Do you know what this is?"

"So its what I thought it is? It would work?"

"I'm damn near certain it would. Sweet Merlin…I've been working on this for years! I can't believe I never thought to…" he faded away as he started walking toward the lab, his son following closely.

"Will someone please tell us what's going on sometime this year?" Ron yelled impatiently. The two Snapes ignored him and hurried into the lab, ready to start work.

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A/N: ooh! Evil cliffie. Sorry about that. Anyhow, in case you didn't notice, I totally made up how many people serve on the jury. If there is a real, JKR answer to that then I'll go back and change it. Until then though, it is a random number that I plugged in. Review!


	43. Testing the Potion

A/N: Someone pointed out to me in a review that I use a lot of "Americanisms" in the fic. Damn! I didn't even notice it! I thought I was doing a pretty good job of catching them during my editing but clearly I have been missing quite a few lately. I _am_ trying though and I will keep trying to edit them out. Thanks for the reminder—it's amazing how much your culture influences you as a writer whether you are aware of it or not, no matter how much you try to bleed it out. 

Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews and thank you for sticking with my through my rather lengthy (for me) pause in posting. Hopefully it won't happen again!

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Chapter 43 

"So mate, are you worried about Halloween?" Ron asked an exhausted Tallis.

Tallis looked up at Ron, completely confused. "Halloween?" he asked blankly.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yes, you know, that day that Voldemort likes to make your life more difficult than usual? Halloween?"

"It hadn't actually occurred to me that it was so close by. We've been working so hard on the potion that I've lost all track of time."

"Are you getting enough sleep?" Hermione tutted, fluffing the pillows around her friend who had collapsed on the floor of their study room. He had only come because it was time for their usual Wednesday night gathering and he didn't want to miss a week, regardless of how desperately he needed sleep.

"'M fine. Go 'way." Tallis snuggled deeper into the soft pillows, eyes drifting closed even as he spoke.

"Go on to sleep, Tallie. We'll be here when you wake up." Tallis' eyes were already closed and he didn't even make it to the end of Hermione's sentence before he was in a deep sleep. "What do you think he has planned this year?" Hermione asked Ron anxiously.

"I don't know. He's been quiet…too quiet. He knows that Harry is away somewhere training and he hasn't been able to unearth anything at all about the location. He's got to be getting angry…and desperate," Ron said, reasoning through the situation aloud.

Hermione nodded. "But how desperate?"

"Pretty bad. I'm expecting a string of attacks on muggle towns, probably all somehow linked with Harry. I'm sure he's blaming it all on him and he'll want to lure him out of hiding. Whatever he does it will be designed to torture Harry and hang on every bit of compassion that he has. I'm sure he's learned by now to count on Harry's heroics rushing in to deal with a situation and will use this as a chance to try to lure him out. I'm guessing that means captives."

Hermione sighed deeply and looked over at her quietly sleeping friend. She knew that his chance for sleep would end soon with the holiday approaching. "So what do we do?"

"Not much we can do about potential muggle attacks. Most of those who are on our side or who else sympathize with the muggle and muggleborn plight know by now to be on the lookout, especially this close to Halloween. As for what we can do to help them? I can't even tell where to start."

"You and I are going to start by being more careful about ourselves in particular. Voldemort knows of exactly two people who are guaranteed to bring Harry running—you and me. Don't go anywhere with anyone you aren't completely certain is safe. Try not to be alone ever. In fact, let's try to stay with each other as much as possible. We work best in teams since we've practiced so much fighting together."

"We'll need to stay focused," Ron said, understanding the danger of either one of them being kidnapped. They didn't fear the torture or potential death. They feared Harry running foolishly into a situation he could not win, resulting in his death and with it the death of the hopes of the light. "I hate to say it Mi but we'd better not even have sex or anything unless we are somewhere we know we are safe. We can't take any kind of distraction, especially one like that and especially one that we can avoid."

Hermione nodded. "You're right. It would be far too easy to sneak up on us if we are that distracted. I also think that the three of us should sleep down here in lockdown on Halloween night. Just to be safe."

"Good luck getting him to agree to that," Ron said, nodding toward Tallis.

"I'll work on it. Just leave it to me. Voldemort's up to something, I can feel it."

"How's the potion coming along?" Ron asked. He still wasn't allowed anywhere near the lab when they were working so he didn't know too much about it. He and Hermione usually were busy doing other things when they could steal a free moment away from the others and so they didn't typically discuss their work.

"Pretty good. We've gotten it stabilized and now we're just tweaking it."

"It really ruins Veritaserum?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at his simplification. "It renders Veritaserum unstable, allowing for the person in question to stretch the truth and prevaricate, something that is impossible while under the effects of true Veritaserum."

"But wouldn't that be obvious? I mean, if someone could lie or at least prevent an answer from coming?"

"No, it still keeps the same effects that Veritaserum has…the glassy eyes, the clammy skin, the monotonous voice. The only thing that changes at all is within the mind of the person. It sort of short circuits their brain, allowing for a split second between comprehending the question and blurting out the answer. That second gives you enough time to stretch the truth or to twist the question in your mind."

"I see. Have you guys tested it yet?"

"We were supposed to later tonight but Tallis seems to tired. Maybe we should wait 'til later. Speaking of, though, I'm supposed to go let the Professor and Bill down here. They're waiting to come test it. I'll explain everything to them on the way. Just let Tallis sleep a bit more, won't you? He hasn't been sleeping well."

Ron nodded and busied himself with his charms homework as Hermione slipped from the room. She returned shortly with the two older men in tow, still explaining everything to them in low tones. She had expressed her concerns about Halloween first off and was only now telling them that Tallis was finally getting some much needed sleep.

Just as they entered the room though Tallis shook himself awake with a start, looking around himself wildly as he tried to place himself. "Hey mate, have a good nap?" Ron asked brightly, trying to help him out. He knew that Tallis often calmed down when he heard a recognizable voice.

Tallis' breathing instantly slowed and he sunk back into the pillows. "I need to get up anyway. We have some testing to do tonight."

"I believe we would be better off waiting for another time," his Father's silky voice proclaimed, making Tallis look up in surprise. He hadn't noticed their presence yet, thinking he was still alone with Hermione and Ron. "You are too tired for this to be an accurate test."

"But is it not likely that we would have the most call to use the potion in similar situations? Situations where you aren't at your best, where you aren't rested, relaxed, and recently had a full meal? Shouldn't we be testing it under all sorts of circumstances?"

Bill looked at him closely, trying to tell exactly how exhausted he was. He knew that Tallis hadn't been sleeping well recently but he wasn't sure how much of a toll the recent stress was taking on him. "You do have a point, love," he said slowly. "Are you sure though? Are you up to this? The potion might not work at all or it may have adverse effects. We really don't know what to expect."

"I'm sure it will work, I just don't know how well. We need to start testing the boundaries. If we are going to have a trial then we all will need this potion. Dumbledore will surely try to tell the world that I am Harry Potter and we will need to lie convincingly enough to have the world believe us over him. That means that we need to lie through Veritaserum."

Severus sighed and stepped forward. "Drink this and then take three drops of the Veritaserum. Tell us exactly what everything feels like so we can document it."

Tallis nodded and downed the new potion. "Yech. Tastes like carpet."

"And you know what carpet tastes like?" Severus asked dryly.

"OK so maybe not carpet, but definitely gross. It feels almost like time has slowed down, like everything is taking me twice as long to do. It is very surreal," he said, slowly moving his fingers and staring at his hands in wonder. Everything felt so odd.

"Now the Veritaserum," Severus ordered as Hermione spelled a quill to write everything down.

Tallis obediently took three drops of the clear liquid and closed his eyes as the potion took effect, rapidly changing his perception. "Everything has sped back up. It feels almost like it is going faster than reality now. Is that normal?" he asked, starting to get worried.

"Usually the effects of Veritaserum are somewhat akin to moving at double or triple speed. That is why you answer questions unhesitatingly and truthfully no matter what you may wish to answer. It is impossible to take any time to think up a lie, even one that was well rehearsed," Severus explained.

"I see. Well, let's go."

"What is your full name?"

"Tallis Anthony Snape," Tallis answered immediately, easily able to side step the question.

"What year were you born?"

"1980" Tallis said, surprised that he managed to get that one out. He had nearly answered 1981 but caught it just in time.

Ron seemed to notice it. "What date were you born on?"

"July 31, 1980," Tallis said.

"Damn. We never thought about the fact that you still have the same birthday. I guess you managed to get the correct year out though so that's all that really matters. It might look fishy though to be born on July 31, just like Harry Potter" Ron commented.

Hermione jotted down some additional notes about this weakness. Evidently Tallis could only lie about things that were at least true in some form. His name _was_ Tallis Anthony Snape now and as far as everyone knew, he had been born in 1980. Since he had never put thought into a new birthday though he hadn't been able to make one up on the spot.

"Have you ever met the Dursleys?"

Tallis shifted uncomfortably, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. "Yes," he finally said reluctantly.

"Do you know them well?" Bill asked.

"No," Tallis said in all truthfulness. Even though he had lived with them for most of his life he didn't know much about any of them, apart from their favorite methods of hurting him.

"How well do you know Harry Potter?"

"Not very," Tallis replied easily.

"Are you Harry Potter?" Severus asked.

"No," Tallis said immediately.

"Were you ever Harry Potter?" Ron suddenly asked, seeing the necessity of proper wording for the questions.

Once again, Tallis struggled to answer. "No," he finally got out.

Severus nodded and whispered something to Hermione to jot down. She asked the next question. "Were you ever known by the name Harry Potter?"

The sweat dripped down Tallis' face as he struggled to lie. He couldn't think quickly enough to get out of this one. "Yes," he finally admitted.

"Hmm…it looks like we need to find a way to slow the thought process even more to allow time to prevaricate."

"Wouldn't that make it obvious that he had taken a potion or something?" Ron asked.

"Part of the beauty of this potion, Mr. Weasley, is that as far as the Wizarding World is concerned, it doesn't exist. No one would suspect a potion. Even with that though, I doubt it would be discovered. The long gaps were noticeable today because the potion wasn't doing its job well enough. Tallis was having to fight too hard to get his answers out. By slowing his mind down more he wouldn't need to fight as much and could actually answer more quickly in the end."

"How long have you known your Father?" Bill asked, returning again to the questions.

"Since I was born," Tallis said slowly.

Ron looked confused but Hermione smiled. "I suppose you were reborn in some ways this summer, Tallie."

Tallis smiled as much as was possible given his highly drugged state. Severus hid a smile as well but pushed on nonetheless. He needed to see how well this worked. "Who was your mother?"

"Mirada Jurow."

"Was Lily Potter your mother?" Bill asked, seeing another potential problem.

"No."

Severus stepped in, well aware of how his son had sidestepped that one since he himself had often insisted on correcting her name when people called her that. "Was Lily Evans your mother?"

Tallis paused for a long moment. "No," he finally said.

"Are you able to change your mind mid way through the question series in order to answer them correctly, Tallis?" Hermione asked, wondering how he had managed to sidestep both of those questions. "Can you believe your mother to be Lily Evans at one moment and at the next question believe her to be Lily Potter?"

"A bit, but it is more of always thinking of a third alternative rather than the two that are more likely to come up. Lily Evans Potter was my mother."

Ron wanted to see how much it could be pushed. "Was your mother known by the name Lily Evans, Lily Potter or Lily Evans Potter during her lifetime?"

Tallis visibly struggled for a moment and then gave in. "Yes."

Hermione jotted down some additional notes alongside those that the enchanted quill was taking. The quill would only note the words spoken, not visual reactions or long pauses. "Theoretically, Professor, he could sidestep that question simply by knowing a name that you personally called her…a pet name or a nickname."

Severus blushed lightly. "We'll test that at a later date."

Hermione nodded, understanding how difficult it would be for her Professor who was a very private man to let them into such an intimate aspect of his life. "You certainly don't need to tell us what it is, it would just help Tallis if the examiner thought to ask him that question."

"But could we all get through that same question that Ron just asked?" Bill asked. "If someone worded it the exact same way and put it to any of us, would it be possible for us to lie?"

"We'll check that next time as well," Severus said.

Hermione turned to her friend. "Tallis, I need to ask some of the hard questions. Is it ok to do that tonight?" Tallis nodded slowly, clearly nervous in spite of his drugged state. Being nervous at all should have been impossible given the sheer amount of mind altering potions he currently had in his system. Hermione decided to move slowly. "Very well. Have you ever been attacked?"

Tallis paused for a moment. "No," he finally said.

"Have any of the Dursleys ever hurt you?"

The pause was longer. "No."

"Have they ever hit you?"

"No," Tallis said quickly.

"Have they ever struck you?" his Father said, again wanting to be sure that they wouldn't be caught on something as small as a change in vocabulary.

The pause was only slight this time. "No."

"Have they ever withheld food from you?"

"No."

"Have they ever starved you?"

"No."

"Have they ever locked you up?"

The pause for this one was as lengthy as the pause over Lily's name. "No," he finally managed.

Hermione looked nervously to the men who all nodded their support. The question needed to be asked since it would certainly be asked on the stand, if he was ever called to testify. Even if everyone thought Dumbledore to be insane they might still give him the benefit of the doubt and call Tallis anyway to make sure. They needed to be prepared. "Have you ever been raped?"

Tallis visibly reeled from the question, unable to speak. His eyes started darting back and forth nervously and he became alarmingly pale. He started gasping for breath. "Tallis?" his Father asked nervously. He knew that even hearing the word was hard for his son but he also knew that if they went to court and if Dumbledore managed to convince the judge to pull Tallis onto the stand that he would definitely be asked that question. Tallis started shaking almost violently and then dashed to the bathroom, physically ill from his struggle.

Bill rushed after him to help him. Ron, Hermione, and Severus all looked at each other. "The potion will need to be good enough for him to get through that question without alerting anyone to the truth. If he can answer that question in the negative then he can answer anything," Ron said softly.

Severus sighed. "We have a lot of work ahead of us."

Hermione nodded. "We've come a long way though. We'll get there."

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A look ahead: Draco finds out who Tallis used to be in the next chapter and the Halloween chapter will follow soon after.


	44. Uncle Vernon Comes to Hogwarts

Chapter 44 

Tallis grumbled loudly as he, Bill and Draco made their way down a dusty corridor, not even bothering to lower his voice. "I don't see why I am involved in this at all. Stupid Slytherins."

"Why _are_ we doing this again?" Bill asked Draco. The two were taking some precious time away from research to spend with Draco at his request. Tallis felt bad about ignoring his friend recently due to the intensity of his research and he couldn't exactly tell Draco that they were researching a potion that would render Veritaserum useless in order to get through Harry Potter's trial with his identity still kept secret. He didn't want to refuse his friend, especially since he knew that he had been ignoring him lately and so had dragged Bill along with them.

"I've already told you two. The Slyths need a private classroom to practice dueling in. When we all come out to the world against the Dark side everyone will flip out. We will be attacked from all sides. We _need_ to brush up on our defense skills. No matter how good we are it will still always be one of us versus a group of them, whether the 'them' is Death Eaters or Order members."

Tallis looked irritated that he could no longer gripe about their chore since it _was_ a very good cause. He still didn't want to be doing it on what was probably one of the last nice days of the summer before it turned too cold, especially after he had spent the last few weeks locked tightly in a dungeon slaving over cauldrons. He muttered incoherently about presumptuous Slytherins and house elves who were clearly not doing their jobs in certain corridors before they stopped at what seemed to be the perfect room.

It was large and nicely hidden away from the commonly used pathways of the school. There were a bunch of old desks and cupboards which would be useful for when they needed to conduct meetings that were more of defense classes than anything else. Old torches lined the walls and would undoubtedly be usable with a few spells.

The boys stepped further into the room, exploring what was there. Bill opened the drawers on the teacher's desk, finding an old bottle of nearly dried ink and a few blank parchments. He moved on to a large cupboard near the teacher's desk and walked in, looking through the papers that he had found there. Tallis shrugged his shoulders at the uninspiring discovery and turned to open some of the cupboards while Draco looked through some of the student desks. The first cupboard had an odd collection of cleaning supplies and large boxes of past student exams. He moved on to the second closet, opening it with no concern. Clearly there was nothing to be worried about in this room.

When the door was fully opened though he turned deathly white and backed up quickly, tripping over the hem of his robes and falling back onto the hard floor. He scuttled backward as quickly as he could, away from the enormous man who had emerged. Tallis cowered back from him, trying to make himself as small a target as possible.

Draco stared on in shock as his friend cowered before the large and decidedly angry man who was quickly approaching. The man's face was flushed in anger and he was screaming nearly incoherently at Tallis, who lay in a quivering mess on the floor. Draco was too terrified to comprehend what the man was yelling about, only making out the occasional "freak" and "whore." As he started to kick his small friend Draco sprung into action, screaming for Bill.

Bill ran out of the small cupboard that had been distracting him from the events in the classroom. The second he saw the man he knew what was going on. "Ridikulus!" he shouted firmly, banishing the man back to the closet from which he had emerged. He ran to his lover's side, desperate to see if he was alright. "Tallis? Tallis? Are you ok?"

Tallis backed further away from him and curled up into a tighter ball, trying to protect his face and neck from injury. "I'm sorry uncle. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry…I won't do it again" he muttered quietly.

Draco stepped forward, wanting to know what was going on. He remained silent though when he caught his friend's words. So _that_ had been the bastard uncle. He felt stupid for not realizing that it was a boggart sooner and doing something about it. Hell, that was third year material!

Bill lightly touched Tallis' quivering back, causing him to scream in terror and crawl away blindly into the corner. "Tallis?" He realized that this wasn't going to work…Tallis had no clue who 'Tallis' was. He needed to end this flashback now before it got dangerous. "Harry," he said firmly, ignoring Draco's loud gasp as he finally realized exactly who his friend was. "Harry, you are at Hogwarts now. The muggles can't hurt you anymore. You are safe at Hogwarts." This wasn't working. Tallis was still curled up into a ball smaller than Bill could have ever imagined he could be and he wasn't responding to anything he was saying.

Tallis' eyes darted around the room, seeing a scene unfold that was invisible to the others. His magic crackled ominously in the air, lashing out at the unseen enemy, trying to protect him from his memories. The desks splintered apart with a mere glance, the torches burst into flames so large they were consumed and burnt away, and the stones themselves started to heat to an unbearable temperature in the places where Tallis' demons supposedly stood. Bill knew that he needed to fix this _now_ or else his lover's magic would destroy them all.

He looked over at Draco who had gone pale with his realizations. "Put up a silencing spell, please."

"What—"

"I don't have time for you right now, Draco. I need to help Tallis." Bill turned once again to his lover. He had never done this before but he remembered the lessons Ron had given him two years ago when he started dating Tallis. He silently prayed that this would work. "Harry, love, you need to come back to me. Ron and Hermione want to go on another adventure and you know they're useless on adventures without you! Mione won't get anything done for all her analyzing and Ron will run head first into danger and get you all in trouble. It's time to leave, you have a lot to do before the day is over."

Draco listened with rapt attention as Bill proceeded to detail an imaginary adventure to Tallis who was eventually starting to listen and calm down. The splintered desks rested once more on the ground, the stones cooled once more, and the few torches that had managed to outlive the bursts of fire extinguished themselves. His trembles had nearly ceased by the time Bill had explained how they needed to go capture their old car that had run wild for the past few years in order to fly to Paris and rescue a unicorn that was living there. Bill continued without pause, now reaching out to lightly run his fingers through Tallis' hair. Tallis leaned into the touch, finally unbending slightly, although he was still tightly curled up.

His eyes drifted closed as he listened to the fantastic story about his adventure with his friends and he nodded off to sleep, exhausted after the amount of magical energy that he had used and the psychological torture he had endured. Bill gathered his slight form into his arms and stood up. "What happened?" Draco said quietly.

"Not here. Wait until we are safe in the Snape rooms." He walked quickly out of the classroom and down the hallway toward the apartment. As they drew closer to the habitated area of the school he paused for a moment but decided to push on. There was no way he could wake Tallis up right now and have him walk the rest of the way to his room. He would just have to be seen carrying Tallis and damn the questions.

Draco seemed to sense his indecision and cast a disillusionment charm over Bill and Tallis. It wasn't perfect but it would make them very difficult to spot. It should be enough. After all, nearly everyone was outside today enjoying the beautiful weather. They walked quickly to the door and Bill muttered the password quietly after checking that no one was near them. Draco removed the charm as soon as the door shut.

Severus stood from his chair quickly, alarmed at the sight of his son being carried into the apartment. He was still incredibly pale and he looked completely drained. "What happened?"

"Let me get him to bed first," Bill said, walking toward their room. Severus and Draco followed, watching in silence as he got Tallis ready for bed and tucked him safely in.

The three men left quietly, shutting the door firmly behind them. Severus looked toward the drink cabinet and Bill nodded immediately. He poured three shots of firewhiskey which all three downed quickly. Draco was the only one who had a reaction to the strong liquor, which seemed to bring him out of his stupor.

"He's Harry Potter?" he said in disbelief, turning with wide eyes to his godfather. "Harry Potter is your son?"

Severus turned an angry gaze toward Bill. "Why the hell did you tell him? He wasn't ready yet!"

"There wasn't much of a choice, Severus. Pour another round and sit down." Surprisingly, Severus did as Bill ordered. Once everyone was seated, Bill started the explanation. "We were looking for an unused classroom that was out of the way for the Slytherins to use to brush up on their defense skills. We found one and were looking through it to see if it would suit. Tallis opened one of the cupboards and there was a boggart in it."

Severus closed his eyes in pain and understanding. "His uncle?" he asked wearily. Now he understood.

"Yes. He was slipping into a rather bad flashback. He had no recollection of his new name and he was quickly losing control. I had to do something. I needed to get him under control before he brought the school down."

"I understand. I'm sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion. I know you better than that, Bill. I know you would never needlessly jeopardize my son."

"But...but…" Draco sputtered impotently. "Harry Potter is your son!"

"I am aware of that!" Severus snapped impatiently. He had feared this reaction since the two boys had started to get close and he didn't feel himself remotely up to the task of dealing with either a hysterical or furious godson—both options of which he had anticipated months ago. "He is also the boy that you have been friends with for the past month and a half, or have you forgotten that already? Is he not good enough to be your friend anymore now that you know he once went by the name Potter?"

"I don't want to stop being friends with him, Sev, I just…it's a big surprise. You have to admit that. Was everything really true? Did his muggle family really…?"

"Yes, Draco" Severus said, sounding tired.

"And his uncle?"

"Yes, everything you think and more is all true."

"Now I know why he said he couldn't tell me his previous identity earlier when I asked him. Gods, I'm an ass. I never even suspected!"

"Well, that was what we were aiming for," Bill said dryly. "The entire point of all of our work this summer was to protect Tallis."

"Why do you keep calling him that? Why don't you call him Harry anymore?"

"Partly to make sure we don't slip. Mostly because he no longer _is_ Harry Potter. I don't think he ever really was. Almost all that you knew of the Boy Who Lived was a fabrication designed by Harry when he entered the wizarding world and realized what was expected of him. Harry Potter as a real person never existed" Bill said softly. "The boy I have loved has always been Tallis Snape, whether I knew the name or not."

Draco looked at Bill closely and then nodded, understanding a bit. Most of what the world knew of him was a fabrication as well and he knew that the only person to ever love him would love the real him and not the persona that had been created around the name 'Draco Malfoy.' There were very few people who knew the real Draco Malfoy and he had long feared that he would never find someone to love the real him but he also knew that dropping his Malfoy persona would be too dangerous. Tallis was incredibly lucky to have found someone who could look past everything. "How did you find out?" he asked softly.

"Dumbledore," Severus growled.

Draco gasped softly, finally understanding what his friend had tried to tell him earlier. "He knew all along, didn't he? I mean, he not only knew that you two were related and he also knew what was happening at his relative's house?"

Bill and Severus nodded. "That is what we are working on right now. That's why Tallis hasn't been around much," Bill told him.

"What are you guys doing?"

"We are working on a way to have a foolproof trial in which the Dursleys will be locked away forever and Dumbledore will be as well, if all goes according to plan," Severus explained.

"But, a trial…if you went to trial then they'd all find out the truth. A bit of Veritaserum would expose you all."

"That's what we're working on," Severus said matter-of-factly.

Draco gasped again, this time not bothering to cover his disbelief. "A potion to counter effect Veritaserum," he whispered reverently. "Can I see the notes?"

"With the permission of Tallis and Granger, yes. We've been working on it night and day for two weeks now and the work has been as much theirs as mine. I cannot reveal anything without their permission."

"Wait a minute…if Granger knows then Weasley knows too, doesn't he?"

Bill raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think that my brother would tolerate me dating a Snape if he didn't? Ron has grown up a lot but even he isn't ready for that if it weren't for the fact that it is his best mate."

Draco grinned sheepishly. "I guess I never thought about it. Who else knows?"

"Poppy, of course, and Lupin," Severus answered.

"The werewolf?"

"He's Tallis' godfather and I wouldn't refer to him as such around him. It tends to irritate him."

"I didn't mean anything by it, I was just surprised. I guess it makes sense though. So that's it, apart from the Weasleys?"

"Essentially. A few people at Veyle Academy know enough information to assist them in lying about him but nothing too damning, really. And if we have done everything right then by the time the trial comes, even if they were to all go to the stand and testify that they believed Tallis Snape to be Harry Potter no one would take them seriously anyway."

"Brilliant."

There was a knock at the door and Bill quickly banished the firewhiskey and glasses back to the cabinet in case it were a professor of the Headmaster. Severus stood to answer the door, reluctantly allowing Ron and Hermione in. It would look even worse if they were seen loitering in the hallway in front of his door. "Is Tallis alright?" Hermione asked anxiously. "He didn't come to our study meeting."

Ron watched his brother accio the firewhiskey and glasses once more, this time adding two more. "Merlin. Something's happened, hasn't it?" he said, walking over to Bill. He finally noticed Draco just as he sat down, making him jump back to his feet. "What's Malfoy doing here?" he shouted, face going red in anger almost instantly.

"He knows," Bill said simply, downing another shot.

"He knows?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Yes. Essentially everything now," Severus said, hoping to evade a war between Ron and Draco. Both boys loved to pick fights with each other and he really couldn't take one today, what with the stress of the past few weeks and his concern over his son.

Luckily, Miss Granger stepped in for him. Hermione placed a calming hand on Ron's arm. "You knew this day would come, Ron. You knew that Tallis was going to tell him sooner or later. I'm a bit surprised it happened so quickly though," she said, turning back to Bill.

Draco answered for him. "It was an accident. There was a boggart…"

Hermione nodded in understanding. "I see. How bad was it, Bill?"

"Terrifying," he whispered. "I've helped him through his times when he is confused but I've never dealt with a full flashback on my own before. Merlin, he could have brought down the school if my story didn't work."

"What was that?" Draco asked, still trying to figure everything out.

"When Tallis has a flashback we need to pull him out of it by reminding him of where he is. It works best to talk about specifically magical things—things that he would only encounter if he were safe at Hogwarts. It helps to remind him that he is here and not at the Dursleys," Hermione explained, sipping at her glass of firewhiskey and wrinkling her nose at the taste. She had never really liked firewhiskey. She gave it up and went to the cabinet to make a gin and tonic, quite at home in her Professor's quarters after so many late night visits and long hours in the lab.

"Is he asleep now?" Ron asked, worried about his friend. "Sometimes he has some pretty intense nightmares after a flashback, Bill. Maybe you should go lay with him, help keep him calm if he starts to dream." Ron knew his friend's sleep habits better than most having slept in the same room for so many years. He had seen Tallis through more flashbacks than the rest of them combined and he knew almost by the minute what to expect. He knew that the nightmares would be starting any minute and if they went unchecked he was liable to slip right back into another flashback.

Bill nodded. "I'll go now," he said, turning toward their room.

"If you need a break then let me know. He's pretty calm with me next to him too, but I doubt he'd let one of the other guys near him right now," Hermione said.

"Thanks, Mione," Bill called out, slipping into Tallis' room.

Hermione turned back to Draco and noticed that he was still incredibly pale, his hands shaking lightly. "How are you doing with all of this, Draco?" Hermione asked kindly. "It's a bit much to take in all at once, isn't it?"

"My head is spinning, Granger. I had no idea. Looking back on it I feel like an idiot for not knowing but I truly had no clue." Ron snorted lightly but at Hermione's glare he quieted. Draco ignored him completely, focusing instead on Hermione since he found her more bearable. "Will you guys be ready for the trial?"

Hermione nodded viciously, her eyes glinting with a hard light with a vengeance that surprised Draco. She was usually so even tempered and difficult to ruffle that he had never expected to see such angry passion in her. He realized that there must be a lot about Tallis' home life that he had never realized if it was able to anger the placid witch this much. "More than. When we're through with them they'll be locked away for the rest of their lives for what they have done to him." Ron and Severus looked equally as fierce about it, making it clear that they would have their revenge one way or another for the wrongs done to Tallis.

Draco nodded firmly, thinking back to the terrifying man he had seen. "Good."

-

-

A/N: Think you've read a scene similar to this in which those close to Harry need to do something specific to pull him out of a flashback? That's because you probably have. While there are a lot of fics out there that use this the one that stays the most vividly in my mind (and therefore gets the credit) is Lee Lee Potter's Death Eater Takes a Holiday over on inkstain (dot) inkquill (dot) net. If you haven't read it then you need to do so immediately. It is one of the most brilliantly written Snarry fics I have ever read. In DETAH it is always singing or else a commentary from a Quidditch match that pulls Harry back. Clearly, I used her fic for the initial idea and then twisted it a bit. Hope this doesn't offend anyone unduly.

More interactions between Ron and Draco in the next chapter and Tallis realizes that Draco knows everything now.


	45. The Aftermath

Chapter 45 

Tallis crept out of his room, trying to avoid waking up his Father and Bill. Merlin, he was embarrassed. He couldn't remember exactly what happened but he knew that he had been looking through the old classroom when his Uncle had found him. He stopped short in the hallway, forcing himself to fix the sentence in his mind. The _boggart_ had found him, not his Uncle. Uncle Vernon couldn't come to Hogwarts.

He assumed that he had a flashback. He sighed heavily. He had thus far been able to avoid having such attacks while near Bill. He hadn't wanted his lover to know how broken he was. He found that if he concentrated intently on the moment at hand then he was better able to avoid flashbacks. The sight of his Unc—the boggart—had been too much for him though.

He started walking toward the kitchen once more, desperately needing a cup of coffee and some more time to process recent events. He stopped short once more when he came to the sight of Draco, Ron, and Hermione; all asleep on the couch and chairs in the sitting room. He swallowed heavily. Merlin, they all knew too. He didn't mind Ron knowing. He had helped him so many times before that one more flashback wouldn't damage his opinion of Tallis too much more than it already was. He winced. Hermione though hadn't known about the majority of the flashbacks that he suffered and Draco didn't know about them at all.

Draco. He thought back frantically over the day before, realizing with a sinking feeling that Draco had surely been present during his flashback. Given the presence of his Gryffindor friends he could only assume that he knew about his identity as well now. He shook his head in confusion. What was he still doing here after learning the truth and probably nearly being killed by his panic yesterday? He should have run screaming by now.

He walked quietly through the room to the kitchen, coming to an abrupt halt once more when he saw his Father sitting at the table, calmly sipping a cup of tea. He stared at him quietly, uncertain what to say. Merlin, this was embarrassing. Why couldn't he just be normal?

"Good morning, Tallis," Severus said calmly, recognizing that his son was terrified of what to say after what had happened yesterday. Usually they avoided talking about these things but Severus and Hermione had decided yesterday that they were doing Tallis no favors by ignoring his flashbacks. Whether he wanted to or not, he _needed _to talk about them. Hence the sleep in of his three friends and his Father's early wake up call. "Do you feel better?"

Tallis nodded slowly. "Yes Sir."

Severus looked up sharply at this. Tallis had _never _called him 'sir' before. "Tallis, look at me," he ordered, trying to take the anger out of his voice. The damn muggles were hurting his son even still. Tallis hesitantly looked up at his Father, certain that he would be punished for something. Reason pushed in, telling him that his Father had never punished him for anything before and he found himself battling confusion once more. Severus recognized the war taking place in his son's eyes and he sighed. "Tallis, you need to remember that I am not your Uncle. I will never hurt you," he said as gently as possible.

Tallis nodded again. "I know," he whispered. "I just get confused sometimes."

"It is understandable, son. Why don't you sit down and have some breakfast? I think you've been too busy to eat properly in the past few weeks." Tallis slid into his chair across from his Father and started piling his plate with food, still trying to avoid his Father's eye. He knew that his Father who was ostensibly ignoring him and reading the paper would watch every bite that went into his mouth, making sure that he was eating enough. His mouth quirked up into a small smile at the thought.

Bill and the three students stumbled into the room. Bill had woken the moment that Tallis had left the safety of his arms but had left him a few moments of privacy, knowing that Severus would already be awake and in the kitchen waiting for him. The students had likewise awoken when Tallis had stepped into the room. There was something about their friend's magic that seemed to change the atmosphere of a room instantly and it shook them all awake. They had all continued to feign sleep as their friend looked at them closely, clearly worried about the previous night. The four had listened to his conversation with his Father, exchanging worried looks occasionally. When he started eating though they deemed it safe to enter.

Bill collapsed into his seat next to Tallis and Draco sat in the only extra seat. Severus quickly spelled two more chairs for the Gryffindors. Everyone sat close to each other, squeezing into the small table which was once made only for one. Tallis looked hesitantly up at Draco who was calmly putting marmalade on a piece of toast. "Why are you still here?" he asked quietly.

Draco looked up in shock. "Where did you expect me to be?"

Tallis shrugged helplessly. "As far away from me as possible," he whispered.

Draco set the toast down. "Tallis, you are my friend regardless of who you used to be. It was a bit of a shock but it doesn't change anything. Why would you think that it would have?"

Tallis looked at him, dumbfounded. "I just…I just…I don't know," he finally said. "I lied to you Draco."

"You didn't lie, Tallis, you just didn't tell me everything. I knew that you were keeping secrets from me and I understood why you were doing so. I've never been mad about that. Once I found out the truth I understood the need for secrecy even more."

"Speaking of," Hermione cut in, "shouldn't we spell him to prevent him from slipping on the truth? I doubt anyone would ever think to call him to the stand but it is within the realm of possibility."

Severus nodded and pulled out a vial of the potion needed to work as a catalyst for the spell that his son had developed a few months previously. He had been working on making one that would work for his godson ever since the original had been developed, knowing that one day they would need it. "We can do so whenever Tallis is done with his breakfast."

Tallis immediately set his fork down on his still half full plate. "I'm done now," he announced. At his Father's glare though he picked up his fork once more and set to clearing his plate. He supposed he _was_ still hungry. The small group ate in near silence. Draco and Ron were fighting their instincts to attack each other and both knew that too much conversation would prove their efforts meaningless. They didn't want to give their friend any more stress through their stupid bickering. Hermione had given them both harsh instructions the night before about their behavior and neither young man wanted to anger her. Bill, Hermione and Severus were quiet because they were trying to figure out how to broach the topic of Tallis' flashbacks.

When they were finally finished the dishes vanished from the table. Severus passed the vial to his godson quietly who nervously eyed the apricot liquid. "What does it do?"

"It prevents you from telling anyone about my son," Severus said simply.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It is a potion and spell combination that Tallis invented which encourages dream and fiction over the cold facts. It will allow you, even under Veritaserum, to say with perfect conviction that Tallis Snape is not Harry Potter. It isn't a mind altering substance and it is not a controlling substance, it merely helps to protect you from mind magic invasions by people that are searching for specific information and it also protects you from truth serums."

Draco nodded and swallowed the potion, clearly impressed that his friend had managed to invent something so delicately balanced. While still insanely difficult, it was moderately easy in comparison to invent something that would keep the information safe but would also control the will of the person in question or else tamper permanently with the mind. It was very difficult to cut out those two less desirable effects and still retain the first one.

Tallis motioned him to stand as he did as well, walking over to his friend. He reached up, hands nervously touching Draco's temples lightly and he started to hiss the incantation. Draco's eyes opened in wonder as he felt the spell taking effect. "Gods," he whispered when it was finished. "This is an incredible invention. I hope that one day you can be recognized for all of your work. You didn't get any recognition for your tattoos either. Doesn't it bother you?"

"Not really," Tallis said softly. "I invent to fulfill my needs, not to become famous. I have no need for it."

"But this time you would be famous for your own accomplishments!" Draco argued.

Tallis shrugged indifferently. "I just want to live a quiet life far away from society and work on my potions and healing."

"That'll be a bit difficult to heal people if you are far away from them," Bill said dryly.

"I mean far away from high society, from the media and the Ministry and famous people in general. I don't mind the rest."

"Shall we move to the sitting room?" Severus asked the group. Tallis looked down at his sleep pants and bare chest, wanting to go get dressed. The other students were in pajamas as well, having asked Dobby to go fetch them some from their dorms but he was still uncomfortable. Bill recognized a delaying tactic when he saw one and simply accioed a tank top for him and handed it over. Tallis reigned in a sigh. There was no delaying this. He pulled it reluctantly over his head and settled down on the loveseat with Bill at his side.

Severus took his usual chair and the other students quickly sat down on the sofa and remaining chair. "You had another flashback yesterday," Severus began immediately. Tallis nodded slowly, his eyes guarded. "Can you tell us what sparked it?" He knew damn well what sparked it but he also knew that Tallis needed to admit it out loud.

"My Uncle came to Hogwarts," Tallis finally said, then shook himself visibly as his words sunk in. He thought he had already fixed that mistake earlier. "I mean, I saw a boggart that looked like my Uncle."

Severus stiffened when he heard how Tallis referred to it at the beginning. Even now, even hours later, Tallis still initially thought of the experience as if his Uncle had truly made it inside Hogwarts. He was starting to understand his son's fear of his Uncle arriving at Hogwarts a bit more. Irrational or not, it made perfect sense that he had barred the door so tightly when he had his last treatment session with Poppy and was unconscious.

"You realize that it was a boggart, don't you? You realize that the muggle wasn't really here?"

Tallis nodded quickly. "I do. I don't know why I keep saying that Uncle Vernon was here. I know he wasn't," he said, shivering lightly in fear. Bill wrapped a strong arm around his slim shoulders, pulling him tightly into his side.

"Can you tell us what you saw in your flashback?" Severus asked. Tallis' face turned white. He shook his head almost violently. Severus reigned in a sigh. "How often do you suffer from these flashbacks?"

Tallis started to tug at a few loose threads at the hem of his flannel sleep pants. "I don't know. Not too much anymore."

"And before? When they were at their worst, how many were there?"

Tallis shrugged, his fingers still tugging at the strings. "I don't know. Maybe once a week?"

Ron stepped in. "In our second and third year you often had a flashback or else a partial flashback around three times a week."

Tallis looked up in shock. He hadn't realized it had been _that_ bad. "But they're a lot better now. I've only had two since I arrived at Hogwarts."

"And before you arrived at Hogwarts?" Severus asked, immediately realizing how carefully his son had worded it. He was truly his father's son. He would have done the same thing.

Tallis looked down again, unable to meet his Father's piercing gaze. "I'm not sure," he muttered. "It was kind of a blur."

Bill tightened his hold on Tallis. "Love, you need to tell us when you have these. We can't help you if you keep them secret."

"But maybe I don't want help!" Tallis said angrily, pushing away. "I'm not a kid. I can deal with this on my own!"

Severus looked about ready to snap at his son that he could damn well not deal with them on his own if his way of dealing with it was to ignore it and pretend it wasn't happening. Hermione stepped in before his temper could get the better of him. "We know you're not a kid and we know that you can deal with a great many things on your own," she said soothingly, her voice almost immediately calming him as it always did. "We just worry. We all love you, Tallie. Why won't you let us help you? We all let you help us often enough with out problems."

Tallis looked at her quietly, letting her words sink in. She was right. They all _did _accept his help when they needed it. Why was it so difficult for him?

"Look mate," Ron finally said, breaking the tense silence. "I know you've gotten loads better recently but I still worry about you. Mione worries about you too. I bet the ferret does as well." Draco glared at him and Hermione punched him hard in the arm, making him grimace in pain. "I mean Malfoy. The point is, though, that we're your friends and we want to help in whatever way we can. I know you don't like talking about it and I completely understand but I think you might need to, mate." When he saw how Tallis' face turned pasty white again he continued quickly. "Maybe not to any of us or even Bill but maybe you could with the Professor. I'm sure he would be ok."

Severus rolled his eyes at Ron's glowing review of his abilities as a confidant. It seemed to work with Tallis though who appeared to be seriously considering it. Tallis knew that his Father wouldn't be shocked and horrified by anything he said to him and he knew that he wouldn't comment too much. He could just tell him things and then be done with it most of the time. Granted, he had no idea how much self control it took on the part of his Father to maintain a neutral expression during their conversations. Talking to his Father about the Dursleys wouldn't be too bad, really. He had already told him a bit about them and he hadn't gone running from him. Maybe he could tell him some more.

"Just think about it, will you love?" Bill asked quietly.

Tallis nodded. "Are we going to the lab later?" he asked, changing the subject.

Everyone bit back sighs. Tallis always did this when he didn't want to discuss something anymore. They let him get away with it today, knowing that they had made a significant inroad into getting Tallis to talk about his memories with someone through their earlier (although short) conversation. "Yes. I think we're nearly there," Severus said.

"Can I come?" Draco asked eagerly. "I won't work with you guys since I don't know what's going on, I just want to look at some of your notes and watch."

Tallis looked at Hermione and his Father seeking approval. Both nodded immediately. "Sure," he said. "We need to change first though. Come on, you can borrow some clothes." Draco looked at his small friend with one eyebrow raised. "Well, maybe not mine but you can borrow some of Bill's. They'll be big but we can shrink them some. Are you coming too, Ron?" Tallis asked, knowing that Ron wasn't usually allowed in the lab since he was so wretched at potions.

"Can I?" Ron asked, brightening immediately. "I promise not to touch anything at all."

Tallis smiled. "Yes but you need to stay with either Draco or Bill the whole time. You need to stay with whichever is farther away from the potion."

Ron nodded eagerly. He'd even put up with the ferret if it meant he could see his friends at work. He knew that Tallis was a genius with potions as was his Father and he knew that Mione was very skilled. He might not like doing potions personally but he was still fascinated by the process. He also hoped that watching them might give him some clues as to potential weaknesses since it was his job to work on strategy and help them find the problems with the potion.

"Er…Mione, I guess you'll need some of Bill's clothes too," Tallis said, blushing lightly. He was too small for her to borrow his pants. It was very hard on clothes to expand them because it stretched the fabric too much, creating too much stress for it to bear. It was not nearly as rough on the material to shrink them down.

"That's fine Tallis," Hermione said. She had long since stopped being bothered by the fact that she was too big for his clothes. She was slim but she was a good three inches taller and with a curvy woman's figure it would simply be impossible for her to squeeze into his clothes. The group went back to Tallis and Bill's room, pulling clothes out of the large closet to shrink. Tallis passed Hermione one of his tops, knowing that she could fit one of his looser tops without any spells.

Draco managed to put on the borrowed clothes without making any comments about the cheaper quality of them at all, surprising both Weasleys. Bill knew that Draco wasn't the asshole that he pretended to be but he was still a pampered pureblood who only wore the best of everything. Ron decided that he might need to reevaluate his opinion of the ferret.

The group made their way to the lab, spotting Severus already setting up the four cauldrons needed for the potion. It needed to be brewed in each one for a short time, the different metals purifying the potion one step at a time. Ron's eyes widened as he saw the enormous amount of equipment set out, more arriving on the wide and high counters with each moment as Hermione and Tallis grabbed more.

The counters here were the same height as those at the manor and Tallis grabbed his stool and pulled himself up on it, organizing the ingredients that his Father was pulling down. Hermione set out one last set of knives and started to help Tallis. Draco was alternately staring at the activity and reading through the meticulous notes that were taken in Hermione's hand.

She was good at potions and certainly talented enough to serve as a research assistant and potions assistant for the Snapes but she was no where near the level of the two men. She tended to take the notes and jot down possible questions or concerns for the three of them to consider later while the two men worked. She helped with the preparation and she took the used ingredients and materials out of their way when they were finished with them but she was not involved in the actual brewing process.

Tallis and Severus were insanely grateful for her assistance, knowing that the potion would be impossible without the help of an assistant who was not only incredibly talented but who also knew both of them well enough to be able to anticipate their needs. When they were ready the three exchanged a look and took a deep, calming breath simultaneously. They quickly went to work, their motions almost a dance as they worked around each other closely, hands moving with unnatural speed and grace as they perfectly timed each step.

Ron watched, fascinated. Bill also found it interesting but he had been allowed to observe before since he wasn't the walking potion disaster that his brother was. Draco had given up reading the notes and watched in disbelief. He had always considered himself to be talented at potions but he was nowhere near this level. He grudgingly admitted that he wasn't sure he could even do Hermione's work.

Two hours passed and it seemed as if only a few moments had gone by to those observing. They watched with bated breath as Severus carefully lifted the heavy gold cauldron and poured the distilled potion into the small platinum lined cauldron that Tallis steadied. The potion would only sit in the cauldron for three minutes and then be decanted into vials, ready for consumption. The three minutes were tortuous as Severus, Hermione and Tallis stood still for the first time since they had entered the lab, watching in silence.

After the three minutes had passed Tallis lifted the small cauldron and poured the potion directly into the small vials. No metal could touch the potion after that final step or it would be contaminated. Once each vial had been tightly capped by Hermione and labeled with Severus' tidy scrawl the three brewers took a deep breath once more.

"Can we test it?" Draco asked eagerly.

Severus looked down at him, mischief glinting in his dark eyes. "_You_ can."


	46. Forging Friendships

A/N: A bit of sex in this chapter. If that bothers you then you probably shouldn't have made it to chapter 46 in a fic that featured guy on guy action. Anyhow, if you wish to skip then stop reading when Sev leaves the room and resume when you see the section break. 

This chapter is so late between my going away for the weekend and then dial up woes. I actually tried to post it lastFriday morning. On the bright side though, I have officially had it with dial up and will be able to use my NEW DSL by next Wednesday. Yay cheap DSL promotion!

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Chapter 46 

**Last time**

_Two hours passed and it seemed as if only a few moments had gone by to those observing. They watched with bated breath as Severus carefully lifted the heavy gold cauldron and poured the distilled potion into the small platinum lined cauldron that Tallis steadied. The potion would only sit in the cauldron for three minutes and then be decanted into vials, ready for consumption. The three minutes were tortuous as Severus, Hermione and Tallis stood still for the first time since they had entered the lab, watching in silence. _

_After the three minutes had passed Tallis lifted the small cauldron and poured the potion directly into the small vials. No metal could touch the potion after that final step or it would be contaminated. Once each vial had been tightly capped by Hermione and labeled with Severus' tidy scrawl the three brewers took a deep breath once more._

"_Can we test it?" Draco asked eagerly. _

_Severus looked down at him, mischief glinting in his dark eyes. "_You_ can."_

"What?" Draco said, suddenly nervous. He knew that the potion couldn't possibly be dangerous or else his godfather would never suggest it but all the same, he didn't want to be the one to try an experimental potion for the first time—much less one that might or might not work to block Veritaserum.

"Come on, Malfoy," Ron taunted lightly, not in a cruel way at all but definitely meant to get under the Slytherin's skin. "Tallis had already tested an earlier version. You too scared to?"

Draco swallowed nervously. He hated to say it but he _was_ nervous. What if it didn't work? He'd be spilling his guts to Ron Weasley of all people! He didn't care if Tallis and his godfather heard him. He didn't care too much if Bill did either. Surprisingly enough, he realized that he wasn't even terribly nervous about Granger hearing anything since he knew that she was much too kind to ever use anything against him. He really didn't want Weasley there though.

Severus stepped in to explain. "We actually do need you to test it, Draco. You are the only one with any magical creature blood and we need to make sure it works."

Hermione looked interested. "What magical creature inheritance do you have?"

Draco glared at his godfather for spilling his secret. "I'm 1/32 Veela. Not enough to have any of their powers or to shift form or anything but enough to alter the effect of some potions."

"Can your dad?" Ron asked, curious.

"No," Draco said. "To have any of the abilities you need to be at least 1/4 blood. I believe my grandmother could but she died before I was born."

"Will you test it?" Severus asked. "As Miss Granger said earlier, I doubt that you would be called to the stand in any trial but I suppose it could happen given that people know that you and Tallis are close. It depends on how seriously they take Dumbledore's accusations."

"I already have the potion and spell protecting me," Draco argued.

"It protects you from telling anyone that I used to be Harry Potter but it won't protect your other secrets," Tallis reminded him. "Do you really want to allow the Ministry to get a hold of you when you are under the influence of Veritaserum?"

Draco turned pale. _He _might not have engaged in any Death Eater activity but he certainly knew damning information about other family members. He wouldn't mind if they got caught on their own merits but he didn't want to rat them out. "I'll try it," he grudgingly acquiesced.

"Good. We still need someone that doesn't have any creature blood to test this batch too though or else we won't get a clear reading," Hermione said. She turned to Ron. "Why don't you give it a go, Ron? You're the only one of us who hasn't done it yet, aside from the Professor."

Ron glared at her but agreed as well. Tallis and Hermione exchanged a triumphant look. They had wanted to keep both boys on an equal footing so that they wouldn't fight or try to use anything against the other. They were doing an admirable job keeping their bickering to a minimum but they were worried that the chance to have his enemy under Veritaserum might prove to be too much to Ron and he would try to bait the Slytherin. Hermione understood Tallis' worry that his friends would never get along and she vowed to do everything in her power to help the two ornery boys become friends.

"Wait a second," Draco said suddenly. "Why the hell are we working so hard on this in the first place? Isn't that what your spell is for? You don't even need this Tallis."

"The spell doesn't work on me, Draco," Tallis said as he carefully measured out the potion for Ron. "It won't work on anyone who can always throw off the Imperius curse. Luckily for us, I was the only one who we came across who can do that every single time, regardless of the strength of the caster. So I at least am potion free. Drink up," he said, handing both boys a vial of the potion.

Ron and Draco drank a vial of the potion as one, both commenting on the same sensations that Tallis and the others had noted. When they took the Veritaserum though Draco started sweating. "Merlin, this is terrible Sev. Is it always like this?"

"What do you feel, Draco?" Severus asked, concerned. Draco did not look well.

"The whole room is spinning and my mind is racing. Merlin make it stop."

"The effects have to wear off on their own, Draco," Tallis said sympathetically. "It felt like that for me too. Let's see if you can stretch the truth through it. Veritaserum and its effects aren't comfortable for anyone so it might just be the usual effects and they may just be a bit stronger in your case."

Draco nodded, still looking a bit dizzy.

"Alright. What is your full name?" Severus asked.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy."

Hermione's face fell. "I really thought it would work for you," she said sadly.

"It did, Miss Granger," Severus replied absently. "He left out two of his middle names."

She brightened instantly. "Wonderful! Now let's start testing its limits with you. When did you first meet Tallis Snape?"

"This summer before we boarded the train to go back to school."

"Are we going to try to lie about that Severus?" Bill asked, realizing that it might be a good way to give Tallis a bit of history if he could claim being friends with Draco Malfoy since he was a child.

"I don't see how we can," Tallis answered. "Too many people saw us meet each other for the first time on the platform. I sincerely doubt we can convince them that we were old friends."

"I agree." Severus turned back to Draco. "How long have you known _about_ Tallis?"

"Almost as long as I've been alive," he answered quickly.

Hermione smiled. "Good answer. How about Ron, now? How long have you known Tallis Snape?"

"I've known his for a few years. Bill brought him home to dinner one day to meet the family."

The group continued through the requisite boring questions establishing the boundaries of the potion. It didn't work quite as well for Draco as it did for Ron but he could still lie when needed. Tallis and Bill exchanged a long look. "Well, I think we're done here. Guess we'll leave you three together to chat a bit," Tallis announced, grabbing his Father's sleeve and his lover's hand and pulling them from the room. He was bound and determined that the three would at least get along and he hoped that the assistance of the Veritaserum might help. He would never be cruel enough to leave the three together truly dosed with Veritaserum but since the two boys also had the antidote they were able to stretch the truth a bit, thereby eliminating the possibility of revealing too many secrets. Plus, he left Hermione there to mediate. She wouldn't let anything get out of hand.

"Why exactly are we leaving them alone?" Severus asked, looking anxiously back toward the closed lab door. He was worried for his godson, fearing Hermione's abilities to keep her boyfriend in line.

"They need to learn to get along, Dad," Tallis said. "I thought that under a controlled they might be able to do so. If anything gets too out of hand we can go in and separate them. But think about it—they all have had relatively few friends over the years for various reasons. They could all use each other, whether they admit it or not."

"I'm sure the Gryffindors are friends with everyone in the damn Tower," Severus said snidely.

Tallis sighed. "We are really only friends with each other. I guess they are kind of close with Ginny and Neville but Gin doesn't count since she's Ron's little sister and they can't trust Nev to keep his mouth closed and secrets safe. Sometimes he just slips. Truly, their only friends are each other and I. Draco is in the same situation, really. Couldn't he use a few new friends?"

Severus conceded the point. He went to their office to do a bit of grading, leaving Bill and Tallis alone.

"Merlin, I thought we'd never get rid of them," Bill murmured as he pulled Tallis closer to him.

"You aren't turned off by me?" Tallis asked quietly.

"Why would I be?"

"My flashback. Didn't it scare you? Don't you think I'm a freak?" he whispered.

Bill sighed and sat down, pulling his small lover onto his lap as he did so. "Tallis…yes, I was scared for a bit. I was scared that you would hurt yourself. I was maybe even scared that you would hurt me by accident. I was never scared _of_ you though. I know that you would never hurt me on purpose. I have always known that you were far more powerful than I and with that power comes the possibility of losing control once in a while. No one can keep it tightly in check forever. You are not a freak, love. You have never been a freak. You should take pride in your strength and abilities."

Tallis shrugged uncomfortably. "You still like me?"

"Nothing can change that," Bill said, slowly sliding his fingers under the hem of Tallis' shirt, gently stroking the warm skin underneath.

Tallis whimpered softly and wriggled around a bit so that Bill could reach more of him. The strong fingers reached up to tease a dusky nipple, pausing for a moment. "I think we should get one of your nipples pierced," he said, twisting it between his fingers harshly.

Tallis was panting. "You think?"

"Hm…" Bill hummed, moving to the other nipple as his other hand drifted down to undo his trousers.

"May…maybe we sh…should go to another room," Tallis stuttered as Bill took his aching length in his hand, squeezing gently.

Bill abruptly stood up, lifting Tallis in his arms, as he strode toward their room. He tossed him on the bed, moving quickly to put up proximity wards and locking spells on the door. He turned back to the bad, crawling up to lay on top of Tallis, covering his slim body completely. "You have entirely too many clothes on," he whispered, pressing him deeper into the mattress. He grabbed his wand and whispered a spell that made both of their clothes disappear and reappear on the floor in a messy heap.

Both men hissed as their skin finally made contact, Tallis scraping his nails up Bill's back in delight. "Merlin Bill, fuck me."

"As you wish." Bill grabbed the lubricant from the table top and reached down to gently prepare his lover. He had worked very hard to be gentle ever since Poppy had repaired the scarring. He didn't want to harm him.

Tallis whined softly in need. "More, Bill," he hissed, pulling on Bill's hair.

"I have to be careful, love." Despite his words Bill obligingly inserted a third finger making Tallis buck back in delight. After ensuring that his lover was completely ready for him he slowly slid into the tight heat, frantically listing counter curses in his mind to hold his orgasm at bay.

"More," Tallis keened, clamping down on the hot length inside him needily.

"Gods," Bill hissed, withdrawing and slamming back in as hard as he felt safe doing. "Merlin love, you're so tight."

Tallis couldn't find words to respond, merely thrusting up into Bill, moaning happily when he hit his prostate. He gripped his knees and pulled them higher and further apart. "There," he groaned.

Bill thrust in, hitting his spot again and again, pushing Tallis over the edge. His tight hole clamped down on Bill, pulling his orgasm from him. He collapsed on top of Tallis, barely remembering to brace at least some of his weight on his arms to keep from crushing his small lover.

"Merlin I love you," Tallis said, then stiffening in shock. He hadn't meant to say that. He looked hesitantly up at Bill, his deep green eyes betraying his fear.

"I love you too," Bill whispered, bending in to kiss him gently. Tallis melted into his arms, sighing happily.

"I love you," he whispered again. "I love you."

Bill smiled, stroking his lover's face tenderly. "I love you," he whispered once more.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Draco, Ron and Hermione exchanged nervous looks. "Clearly he wants us to all get along," Ron finally said.

"Interfering asshole," Draco muttered.

"Well we should probably at least try to talk," Hermione said.

"You should have to take the potions as well," Draco argued, clearly stalling.

"All right," she agreed amiably, measuring out the potions and swallowing them quickly. She turned back to Draco. "What was your first reaction when you found out that Tallis was who he was?" she asked, finding it difficult to say Harry Potter since she had been dosed so strongly with the earlier potion and spell that he had developed over the summer.

"Shock. Horror."

"Why horror? Because he was a Gryffindor?" Ron sneered.

"No. Because my best friend had been raped by that creature I saw. Because he, of all people, should have been saved immediately from that situation. Because I added to his pain all those years," Draco said reluctantly, finding his answer pulled almost forcefully from him.

Hermione patted his hand gently, offering him the only comfort that she knew he would accept right now.

Ron shuddered as he recalled Vernon. "He was so much worse in person. I was nearly sick just standing in the same room as him."

"You saw him?" Draco asked.

"I went with when the Professor paid them a visit."

"So you saw Sev castrate him?"

Ron nodded viciously. "The bastard tried to give him sex advise for how to best fuck his own son."

Draco paled. "No wonder he did it. I wish I could have been there."

"So do I," Hermione said suddenly, startling the boys. When they saw the fierceness in her eyes they nodded. So often she was left out of things like that because people thought she wouldn't approve but truthfully, she fought like a wildcat when her loved ones were in danger. She had absolutely no morals when it came to punishing those who had harmed Tallis.

"We'll have our revenge," Draco finally said.

"If Tallis lets us," Ron put in. Draco looked up in shock, the question clear on his face. "The Professor won't let us do anything without Tallis' full understanding and permission."

"That's bullshit!" Draco exclaimed.

"It makes perfect sense," Hermione said reasonably. "The most intimate details of his everyday existence with those monsters will be revealed—details that he has never told us or his Father or his lover. Of course it is terrifying. Too much control has been taken away from him for us to ever do this without his consent."

The boys nodded their understanding. They both reluctantly agreed to acquiesce to their friend's wishes.

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Next Chapter: The Halloween Feast! Enter Voldemort.


	47. The Halloween Feast

A/N: This chapter is a bit short. I also made you wait a bit long for it (I know, I told you a million chapters ago that this was coming up. I ended up adding some stuff in between but it makes more sense now). The next chapter is actually quite a bit longer, more on the lines of my old chapters. This one just wouldn't allow itself to be longer. Sorry! 

On a brighter note though, I'm finally caught up with this fic and am written well ahead of my posting, just as I like to be. It helps me to edit it when I can look at five or six chapters in a row like that and make sure that they flow properly and pick up on everything they need to. I find that if I post them too quickly then I make too many stupid mistakes. I haven't written much on Black Prince recently. I'm a bit stuck and this fic just seemed to beg to be written. Guess that's just the way it goes.

Without further ado, here's the Halloween Feast!

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Chapter 47 

Tallis sat with his Father on one side and Bill on the other, looking over the students below them. It was the night of the Halloween feast and the students were in high spirits. Ron and Hermione were huddled anxiously next to each other at the Gryffindor table, seemingly the only students who were not enjoying the feast. Draco looked a bit concerned to someone who knew him well but very few people could tell it. Tallis looked at his Father closely and noticed the slightly drawn expression. His Father was worried too, although he was able to hide it better than his Gryffindor friends.

They had all been convinced that Voldemort was up to something this year and they had banded together to beg Tallis to stay away from the feast and remain safely in lockdown in the Chamber. He had persevered though, refusing to allow Voldemort to control his life anymore than he already had. Bill hadn't been entirely pleased by his decision but he stood by him when he saw how important it was to his younger lover. He had asked permission to join him for the dinner and was readily accepted. Tallis might not want to curb his life completely for Voldemort's sake but he certainly wasn't about to give up additional protection or a date with his boyfriend for the sake of proving a point.

"How have your lessons with Madam Pomfrey been going, Tallis?" Bill asked. Most of the time that they spent together recently had been focused on the new potion and the two hadn't been able to talk about anything else recently. They also couldn't talk about a lot of topics in the Great Hall but his apprenticeship was one of the few safe topics.

"Much better. I can now call my healing magic to hand immediately without struggling. I'm still working on strength though since I have trouble adjusting the level of my spells. They tend to be too strong or else almost nonexistent. Poppy says that I'll pick it up soon though. She says it is pretty common to have a difficult time with that, even if you get the magic itself relatively quickly."

"I'm sure you'll get it soon. Classes are still ok?"

"Yeah, my kids are great," Tallis said with a grin. "They're learning much more quickly than I had hoped so I think we will have time for a few extra lessons toward the end of the year to help them work ahead some."

"And your kids, Severus?"

Severus glared at Bill. "The little menaces are as incompetent as ever, Bill, as I am sure you are all too aware. In fact, I believe that this lot may be even more inept than the usual. The condition of Britain's students is deplorable. I pity the future of our world if these cretins are anything to judge by."

"Good to see that your vocabulary hasn't failed you in your time of need." Tallis and Poppy snickered quietly at Bill's words.

"Tallis really has been doing well with his healing magic and will soon move on to focusing on healing specific injuries," Poppy said from Severus' other side, leaning over him and making him sneer at her. He loved her dearly but he had an image to maintain. "I was amazed at how quickly he managed to access his magic. I have great hopes for him."

Severus didn't comment but the edges of his lips quirked up into a small smile, making Tallis smile happily. He would never get over the simple joy of making his Father proud. After so many years of indifference from the Dursleys he loved knowing that his parent, his own Father, was proud of his accomplishments.

"You haven't had any more problems with the upper years, have you Tallis?" Poppy asked, remembering the issues that he had earlier in the year. She rarely listened to gossip so she didn't know if anything else had happened. She assumed that if anything too bad happened that she would know about it but she often missed the little things in the day to day operation of the school since she spent so much time in the Infirmary.

"Not really. They are all very well behaved. Father gives them detentions if they look at me wrong. Even without that though they seem to be doing well."

Severus refrained from comment. He _had_ been rather liberal in his assignment of detentions recently. After a week or so the students realized that the detentions were mainly earned for checking out his son. They quickly learned to either look at him more stealthily or else not at all. With the majority of the wizarding world actively bisexual they found that nearly every student, male and female, found Tallis attractive. There were a few young men and one young woman though who were still continually caught lusting after his son. Severus took it as his official duty to teach them exactly why they shouldn't ever bother his son with their affections.

Poppy laughed at his expression, having already listened to one of her friend's rants about how the young men and women of Hogwarts looked at his son. She had no doubt that he protected the young man fiercely in the classroom, especially after the last incident. It seemed that the majority of the students had been horrified at Perry's actions, no matter how much they might be attracted to their Apprentice personally. It was one thing to check out a teacher or even fantasize about him. It was something completely different to try to grope a teacher without his permission. His actions hadn't been supported by anyone.

The feast was drawing to a close without any incident. Tallis was just about to draw a breath of relief when the candles were all extinguished in one fell swoop. The students immediately started to panic, calming slightly when they heard Dumbledore's familiar voice asking them to remain calm while the professors fixed the lights.

A ghostly figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the hall, seeming to glow from within. The students leaned in, trying to figure out what the figure was. It was definitely not a ghost—that much was clear almost immediately. The figure became more and more corporeal with each breath, finally revealing Voldemort's twisted visage. The students were stunned into silence, most of them seeing Voldemort for the first time. Tallis swallowed hard, knowing that his friends had all been right. He would die tonight.

Voldemort's sibilant voice filled every corner of the Great Hall. "Greetings, Dumbledore," he said with exaggerated kindness. "I am terribly disappointed that I wasn't invited to your little gathering. Not very hospitable of you, was it?"

Dumbledore stood up, addressing Voldemort head on. "What are you doing here, Tom? You know that you are not welcome in my school."

"I came to give Harry a little gift, from one friend to another, on this hallowed occasion."

"As you well know, Harry Potter is not here. Even were he present Tom, you know that he wants nothing to do with you, Tom."

"Ah, but what if he does, my old friend? The world has not been kind to young Harry. Why would he not come running to my side, eager for a friendly ear? When he tires of you and your games, who do you think he will turn to for support?"

Tallis looked nervously to his side for his Father and gasped quietly when he realized that he wasn't there anymore. The professors had quietly surrounded Voldemort while he was talking to Dumbledore and raised their wands simultaneously at him, ready to cast their spells. Tallis' heart filled with dread. Something was very, very wrong about all of this. He felt certain that this would not go well.

"Leave now, you are not wanted here," Dumbledore commanded.

Voldemort merely laughed—a high and cackling noise that set the students' on edge. The younger ones began to cry quietly in fear. The professors all took aim and cast spells to contain Voldemort and imprison him. The flashes of magic hit Voldemort's form simultaneously and then dissolved in a burst of sparkling colors with no visible effect. He looked down at his completely free body and laughed harder. The professors looked at each other in wonder, each one terrified as to how Voldemort had managed to counter their magic without lifting a wand or speaking an incantation.

"I am not currently _in_ Hogwarts at all, my dear Headmaster. I wouldn't want to be rude and disturb your party after all, especially uninvited. I felt the need to come though, to show young Harry something that I have been working on just for him. You see, I spent the past few months experimenting with casting an image of myself into a remote area. That in itself was the easy part—well beneath my skills and barely worthy of my attention. What _I_ did though, was discover a way to do that while retaining my inherent skills, including my magic, and ridding myself of a corporeal form that could be weakened by enemy spells. After all, what is the point of being in more than one place at a time if one of you cannot cast spells or if your enemy could just kill you? The beauty in my new magic comes in my ability to kill two people at once, as it were.

"It is through this new magic, in fact, that I will be able to give my dear Harry his gift. I'm sure that you will see to it that he receives his gift, being the kind and honest man that you are. You see; I have come to realize that we have much in common, young Harry and I. Both of us are talented beyond belief. Both of us used by those around us. Both of us abused by the very muggles who were supposed to protect us. It really is a pity that I didn't find the boy sooner and raise him as my heir," he said contemplatively, mind wandering off to unknown possibilities that he had lost by his simple choice to try to kill Harry rather than kidnap him all those years ago.

He shook himself back into the moment though and continued. "When he receives my gift tell him that he will know how to contact me when he desires to. I eagerly await our alliance. Regardless of my past mistakes in my treatment of they boy whom I wish to be my heir, as a gesture of my goodwill I have decided to rid myself of a traitor while gifting him with the death of his most hated professor. Happy Halloween, Harry," he hissed, aiming his wand at the pale potions master. "Avada Kedavra."

The image disappeared immediately after the spell was cast and the candles lit themselves instantly. Severus' body lay still on the floor in front of the head table. All sight blurred for Tallis down to one point of clarity, the noise of the hall blending to a deafening silence in his ears. It felt for a moment as if the earth itself shook beneath his feet. His Father's pale form lay on the ground, the chest still and eyes closed tightly as if to ward off the curse by refusing to look at death.

"Dad!" Tallis screamed, running shakily toward him, stumbling onto the ground by his side and clutching a still hand desperately, trying to will the very life back into his Father. He was certain that his Father wouldn't leave him, he just needed to make sure that his dad knew that he was needed. His Father hadn't left his side since he learned of their connection. He couldn't possibly leave him now. He _wouldn't_. "Dad! Daddy!"

He shook the still form, absolutely convinced that Voldemort's spell had not worked. His Father couldn't be dead. It simply could not be. His Father promised he would never leave him alone again.

The students watched in stunned silence as their usually stoic Apprentice fell completely apart, sobbing over his Father's body.

Tallis choked back his sobs for a moment, attempting to wipe the tears from his cheeks even as they still fell. He needed to fix this. He needed to make everything better. How could he be a savior if he couldn't even save his own father? He held out his hands toward his Father's body, willing every ounce of healing energy that he had into the still form. The magic entered Severus with a crackling force but there was no change. It was too late. _He_ was too late.

Bill stepped forward, trying to gently pull Tallis away. He could see that Tallis was barely holding on to sanity right now, and his current grasp of it was questionable given his attempts to heal a dead man. He knew that he needed to get Tallis away to the privacy of their rooms where he could give him some dreamless sleep for a few hours to let him pull back his sanity. "It's too late, love," he whispered, pulling lightly on Tallis' shoulder. "Leave him be."

Tallis shoved him off with an unnatural strength, turning once again to his Father. Tallis knew that he needed to hurry if he wanted to keep his Father. He reached down and ripped his Father's traditional black robes open, the tiny buttons flying across the hall. He quickly wiped the tears from his cheeks once again before reaching out and pooling his healing energy.

He concentrated on gathering his energy into one massive force as he had never allowed himself to do before, previously always holding back for fear of injuring his patient. A hysterical laugh slipped from his lips at that thought but he stamped down the delirium, knowing that he needed to focus on his Father right now. His entire body started to glow as he gathered his strength, visibly channeling it into his dead Father.

"Come away, love. Come away," Bill whispered softly, seeing the madness taking effect more and more in his lover's mind. He needed to get him away from the prying eyes of the students before he had a complete and total breakdown.

Draco stepped up to his side as well, choking back tears of his own as he looked at his godfather, the only true father figure that he had ever known. "It will be alright, Tallis. Come on, you need to leave him now."

Tallis ignored them and continued to attempt to heal his Father. When he saw that it wasn't working desperation finally took true hold of him for the first time in his entire life. He would not lose another Father. He had lost so many parents already he couldn't lose another. He simply refused to survive a Father's death once again.

He had only one recourse left to him. He had no idea what would happen but he quickly decided that the risk was the only option left to him. He reached out with strong, confident hands, knowing that whatever the consequence, it would be worth it. Even if he failed, even if he died in the process, it would be worth it. There was nothing more important right now. He would do it and damn the consequences.

He firmly reached his hands out to his Father's bare chest while still channeling the strongest healing magic that he could, forcing it through his hands with a will that he had never before displayed with his magic. The magic crackled through the air, making the entire school gasp as the excess magic danced off their skin, the air literally snapping with the magic that flowed through it, seeking an outlet.

Poppy stifled a scream as she realized what he was doing, knowing it was too late.

The instant that his hands touched his Father's skin the two men were enveloped in a blinding white light. After a bare second, Tallis' body was thrown across the room, unconscious.

Severus leapt into an upright position, gasping for breath.

The room erupted in chaos.


	48. Waiting

Chapter 48 

Ron and Hermione paced restlessly outside their friend's room. They were both still speechless over the events of the past few hours. The events of the evening flowed continuously through their minds as they tried to understand exactly what had happened.

After Severus had woken up—been healed—risen from the dead—whatever you wished to call it, he had looked quietly around the chaotic hall, looked down at his torn robes and then looked over at the still form of his son. He slowly stood up, walked over the small heap and bent down, gathering him in his arms. He turned back to Bill and Draco for a moment, looking at them silently for a moment before turning back to the doors and starting to make his way out. Bill and Draco immediately fell in behind him, Hermione and Ron followed at a more discrete distance.

When they had reached the front doors to the castle they were stopped by Dumbledore's booming voice demanding that they remain in the safety Hogwarts. Severus merely turned back to him, glared, and then twisted his family crest ring to portkey them back to the manor. Bill wrapped his arms around Draco and used his own portkey, a necklace that Severus had given him earlier in the summer.

Ron and Hermione had immediately checked in with McGonigall, knowing that she would be looking for them if they didn't. Their head of house knew that they often went to a private room somewhere when they needed to be alone and she accepted it, knowing the stress that they were under as Harry Potter's closest friends was immense. As long as they checked in before disappearing she didn't complain. Ron and Hermione slipped away quickly, using their portkeys to go to the manor.

They had arrived to this scene. Severus had disappeared inside Tallis' room the moment that they had arrived and had barred the door against all entry. Draco and Bill sat slumped on the floor outside Tallis' room. Ron and Hermione paced, unable to sit still yet.

"He hasn't told you anything yet Bill?" Hermione asked once more.

Bill was in a deep shock. He hadn't uttered a word since it had happened. He stared blankly at the door, unable to take in anything around him.

Draco answered for him. "No, Granger, he hasn't come out at all," Draco replied with only a twinge of frustration despite the fact that she had asked the same question at least twenty times since she had arrived. He was in shock as well. The four waited in silence for a while more, each one wrapped up in his or her thoughts.

"That spell can't have worked. It can't have done. You can't heal someone who is dead. He must have just been in a coma. Voldemort must have made a mistake this time," Hermione said suddenly.

This finally woke Bill up and he and Draco exchanged a knowing look. They had both been very close to the body of the potions master for enough time to tell what had happened. It was quite clear that he had been dead. There could be no doubt. They were saved from responding by the door opening. Severus walked out slowly, still in his torn robes. He looked like hell.

Draco and Bill scrambled to their feet, waiting to hear an update.

"He's in a coma, as far as I can tell. He is definitely alive but seems unable to wake up. I'm not sure how long he will remain like this, or if he will ever wake up."

They all knew that it was far too dangerous to take him to a hospital right now and they needed to keep him as far away as possible from Dumbledore. They were left to themselves to diagnose and treat Tallis.

Hermione started crying quietly, leaning into Ron's embrace.

Bill looked anxiously into the room. "Can I see him?"

Severus nodded and stepped aside, allowing Bill entrance. The others started to follow but Severus halted them, wanting to give Bill a few moments alone with Tallis.

Bill knelt beside the bed, completely undone by his lover's pale and drawn face. "Hey love," he whispered, "you need to wake up now. You have us all worried. Your friends are all outside waiting to see you. Please Tallis. Please be ok." He waited expectantly for an answer and then sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be receiving one anytime soon. Two miracles were too much to expect in one day, even from someone who continually did the impossible. He remained there, unmoving, studying his lover's still face as though he were committing it to memory.

After an hour Severus entered the room again and sighed when he saw that Bill hadn't moved. "Come on Bill. Take a seat," he said with more gentleness than anyone would have ever expected from the usually cold man. He leaned down and grasped Bill's arm, pulling him to his feet and helping him regain his equilibrium.

"What are we going to do?" Bill whispered brokenly.

"He'll be alright. He's just in shock right now, I'm sure," Severus said firmly.

"But you said it yourself, Severus. No one knows what would happen to a wizard of his strength if he touched someone while using healing arts."

Severus didn't say anything, he merely pulled Bill to the small sofa that he had moved closer to his son's bed. The two sat in silence, staring at Tallis, wishing that they had at least some idea of what was going on. "Where are Ron and Hermione?" Bill asked, finally noticing that they were gone. "Draco too."

"The Gryffindors went back to Hogwarts to collect Poppy. I can only hope that they made it to her and back out without Dumbledore getting his hands on them. Draco is sitting by the fire. He came in with me. You were a bit distracted."

Bill nodded, unable to find anything else to say. He looked up once more when he heard the sound of a heavy chair being dragged on the ground to see Draco pulling his chair closer to the other two men. The three settled into a heavy silence.

"Where is he?" they heard Poppy's outraged voice sound in the hall. She didn't like the fact that her patient had been removed from her care but she completely understood the necessity of her friend's actions.

The men immediately stood, calling her into the room.

She rushed in and tossed down her bag, bending over her patient and muttering incantations immediately to ascertain what exactly had happened to him. "You were right, Severus. He seems to be in a healing coma of sorts although it is different from any healing coma I have ever seen. There is something that is off about it but I can't pinpoint what exactly it is. It appears that he will be out at least for the rest of the night, maybe part of tomorrow." She straightened up and glared at the others. "You need to get your rest now, all of you. You'll be needed later to help take care of him. Only two people can sit up with him and you'll be taking shifts. The rest of you off to bed, now" she ordered.

No one attempted to argue about it. Bill and Severus reluctantly allowed Ron and Hermione to take the first turn since they had yet to truly see their friend because they had left to get Poppy. Everyone else went to their rooms, Bill settling into Ron's room and Draco into Hermione's. The night moved slowly as they took turns sitting with Tallis, each one wondering what it was that Poppy had seen in her scan that wasn't right. Could it simply be his immense power that made the scan seem a bit off or was there something wrong with him?

Morning came and the small group was once again gathered in Tallis' room. "Do you think he'll wake today, Sev?" Draco asked quietly.

"I don't know. He looks a bit better today, doesn't he?"

"I've never seen him sleep with such tranquility. He looks so peaceful—almost happy, doesn't he?" Hermione said, brushing his hair aside tenderly.

"He's always so restless when he sleeps. He's never this still unless I'm holding him and even then sometimes it's not enough to keep him calm. It's strange to see him like that on his own," Bill said, resisting the urge to climb into bed with Tallis and wrap his arms tightly around him, assuring himself that his lover was all right.

They all jumped an hour or so later when Tallis started to move. Bill and Severus stood and moved closer to the bed and into Tallis' view if he should open his eyes. The deep green eyes blinked once, twice, and then managed to stay open for a moment. He looked around himself curiously, eyes pausing on the small group of people and then moving on. They finally stopped at his Father and Bill. He smiled hesitantly.

"How are you feeling?" Bill asked, anxiously pressing in closer.

"OK," Tallis said and then paused for a moment, looking around his room once more. "Who are you?" he asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion.

Bill gasped quietly, unable to find words for a moment. "Bill," he managed to get out in a choked whisper. He cleared his throat and tried again. "My name is Bill."

"Oh. My name is Tallis." The deep, silky voice was gone and in its place was a lost innocence that none of them had ever heard in their friend, even when he was a first year.

The three students exchanged nervous looks. What the hell was going on? They all straightened up when they realized that the unnerving innocent green gaze was on them.

"Who are you all?"

Hermione answered for them all. "I'm Hermione and this is Ron and Draco."

"That's a funny name."

She smiled weakly at him. "Do you know that man?" she asked, pointing to Severus. She wanted to see if he knew anyone or if he had full amnesia.

"That's my Daddy," he said proudly then looked nervous for a moment after his proclamation. "It is, isn't it?"

"Yes, Tallis, I'm your Father."

"I knew it!" Tallis proclaimed. "We look just like each other!"

The small group looked between the two men in silence. While the resemblance was clear they were in no way that they would ever proclaim the two men near twins or anything. Perhaps it was a simple wish fulfillment on his part, having grown up with a family whom he looked nothing like. Fitting in was very important to Tallis and it always had been. Looking like a family member must have been something that was deemed important to him when he was younger.

"Do you remember what happened?" Severus asked hesitantly.

Tallis looked out the window as he thought, scrunching up his forehead. "No," he finally said.

They were saved from trying to figure out what else to say to their confused friend by Poppy's timely entrance. "How is our patient feeling today?" she asked brightly.

Tallis looked up at her. "Are you my doctor?"

Poppy paused for a brief moment before quickly slipping into her healer mode and rolling with the situation. "Yes, dear, I am. I'm Doctor Poppy. I need to get a bit or information for your file. Can you tell me your name?" she asked, grabbing a tablet of paper from a nearby table, knowing that muggle doctors always noted things down in files. She used files herself but because hers were magical she could merely spell the results of the tests to be written into the file. It appeared that he had some memory loss and she hoped that talking might bring the memories back. If nothing else she could determine how long it might last—she refused to entertain the idea that it might be permanent.

"Tallis Snape."

She raised an eyebrow at this, confused as to how he remembered his new name but she continued. It was a good sign that he remembered something from the present. "How old are you Tallis?"

"Six." Quiet gasps filled the room and Poppy glared at them. They had to have expected it after their earlier conversations with him. The group immediately quieted down.

"I see."

"Daddy, Did you forget how old I was?" Tallis asked, turning to Severus.

Severus laughed weakly. "It can be difficult to remember, Tallie. Answer the doctor's questions now."

Tallis obediently turned his attention back to Poppy. "When is the last time that you were sick?" she asked, knowing that muggle doctors often had to ask similar questions since they couldn't use magical scans to simply tell.

Tallis looked at her warily. "A bit ago."

"And what did you have?"

He continued to hedge. "Boys get sick a lot."

"Who tells you that?"

"Aunt Petunia."

"I see," she said, exchanging a long look with Severus. "Can you tell me about the last time that you were sick?"

Tallis paused for a long time, his hands twisting the blanket. "I'm sure that Daddy knows. I'm tired," he announced. "Can I go back to sleep?" he made a poorly feigned yawn and lay back down, scrunching his eyes closed tightly before she could answer him.

Poppy nodded, knowing that she wouldn't get much more out of her friend while he was so cautious. After a few moments Tallis opened his eyes and stared forlornly out the window to the bright garden, wishing he could go outside and play.

Poppy and the others withdrew to the corner of the room. "He clearly suffers from some form of amnesia. I am uncertain how long it will last. I believe that it will leave him eventually though, given that he already remembers some current details such as his name and you, Severus. That is a good sign that he isn't fully stuck in the past. I will warn you though, the things that he remembers might be few and far between. He might have moments in which his past seems to be more clear to him and he might suffer from flashbacks. I can't yet tell if he is going to be the child he would have been if he had grown up with you, Severus, or if we will see the child that the Dursley's reared. It might last a day or it might last a month. I really don't know what to expect."

"Can we go talk to him so he can stop pretending to sleep?" Ron asked, having noticed that his friend was still staring out the window, glancing over worriedly at the group talking with his "doctor" every few moments and then clenching his eyes tightly shut to feign sleep in case his Father or Doctor Poppy should look over at him again.

Severus smiled when he saw his son's antics. He had never gotten to see his son in such an innocent state and he had given up hope of ever experiencing anything like a childhood with his son. As much as it pained him to see Tallis so carefree knowing that he had never gotten the chance for that in his true childhood it was also a blessing of sorts, getting to experience this with his child. "Of course. Perhaps the three of you could take him into the garden that seems to be fascinating him so much. You may need to help him get dressed. Use the usual caution, Ron, when approaching him about dressing."

"Shouldn't I do it? He usually reacts better to women."

"He thinks he's six, Mione, and he's not gay yet…or doesn't know it yet. He'd die if you saw him naked," Ron said. Draco laughed quietly.

Severus smiled and walked back over to his son. "Tallis? Draco, Ron and Hermione want to go play in the garden. Would you like to go with them?"

Tallis sat upright in bed, practically bouncing in his excitement. "Can I?" he asked, his green eyes sparkling in joy.

"Of course. You just need to get changed and you can go."

Tallis scrambled out of bed and ran to his closet. He looked nervously at Hermione and Poppy. "You need to go now. I'm getting dressed," he ordered. The women smiled and quickly left, followed by Severus and Bill who was looking back into the room, worried.

Severus noticed that Bill had not spoken since he had introduced himself to Tallis. "Let them get outside for a bit and then you can go join them. You have to realize that he doesn't really understand what is going on right now. He thinks he's six, Bill. To a six year old you look like an adult, not a kid to play with. Don't worry, he'll be back to normal soon enough," Severus said quietly to Bill.

Bill nodded hesitantly although it was clear that the information did not comfort him.

Back in the room the two older boys watched their friend as he stared at the door to the closet a bit warily before turning the knob and going in. He looked at the racks of clothes in wonder and then started to pull down a shirt. It was enormous, going nearly to his knees. "Why are my clothes so big?" he asked, worried that something was wrong with him.

"Those are Bill's clothes, Tallis. He stays over sometime. Your clothes are on the other side," Ron explained.

"Oh." Tallis pulled the enormous shirt off and pulled down another one from his side, finding that this one fit much better. He pulled on some trousers as well and then turned to leave the closet, gasping softly when he realized that the two young men were standing in the entrance and blocking his way out. He shrank back into the clothes, hiding as well as he could behind the long robes that hung there.

Ron realized the problem instantly and pulled a bewildered Draco outside the doorway, leaving the exit free. "Come on, Tallis, let's go to the garden!" he called out cheerfully.

Tallis peeked one wary eye out from behind one of Bill's enormous robes and saw that he could leave safely. He ran out of the closet quickly, relieved to be in an open space again.

"Do you want me to pull your hair back Tallis?" Draco asked, noticing that his friend was struggling with the long hair. Tallis nodded eagerly and Draco grabbed a tie from the nightstand and quickly tied the offending hair back.

"Ready!" Tallis said, practically jumping in excitement.

The boys ran down to the garden where Hermione awaited them with a bunch of multi colored balls that she had conjured while the boys were dressing. Ron and Draco looked at her as if she were insane but when they saw Tallis' excitement over the toys they decided it must be a muggle game. Both decided without any words that if it made their friend this happy then it was worth whatever pain it put them through to learn it.

"Let's pick teams! Let's pick teams!" Tallis yelled.

"What are we playing, mate?" Ron asked, completely bewildered.

Tallis stared up at him as if he were insane. "Dodge ball. Haven't you ever played dodge ball?" Ron and Draco shrugged, having no idea what he was talking about. "It's the best game ever! I…well, I never got to play yet 'cus Dudley doesn't want me to but I like watching it…when I'm allowed," he finished lamely, his excitement dwindling as he thought about it more.

"But we're going to play now," Hermione said, trying to bring back his earlier excitement. He grinned up at her, shaking off his earlier melancholy. "Who do you want on your team, Tallis?"

Tallis stared at them each solemnly, trying to pick the best teammate. "I pick Ron and Daddy."

"Erm…Tallis, I think it might just be us playing," Draco said, unable to imagine Severus Snape playing a muggle game that involved a large number of rubber balls.

"Oh," Tallis said sadly. "Maybe if we ask he'll change his mind…?" he trailed off hopefully.

Ron and Draco exchanged similar 'who is he kidding?' looks but didn't want to be the one to turn him down. They were adjusting to the situation as quickly as they could but both of them found it incredibly strange to be dealing with their friend who was usually incredibly mature for his age while he thought himself to be six. They had long since grown accustomed to being the ones who felt like children near him, not the other way around, and it was disconcerting to feel older than him for once.

Hermione simply grabbed his hand and started pulling him back to the manor. "Let's go find out, shall we?" She had a feeling that her Professor wouldn't deny his son anything. He rarely denied him his wishes when he was completely well; with him in this state she simply couldn't comprehend him refusing.

They knocked on the study door, Tallis practically dancing in nervous excitement over playing his first game of dodge ball _and_ getting to be the captain of his team. Severus opened the door and looked down in surprise at his son and Hermione. "Yes?"

Hermione nudged Tallis gently, encouraging him to ask his question. "We're going to play dodge ball," Tallis finally announced firmly.

Severus raised an eyebrow, completely confused by the conversation that was taking place. "I see."

"Well?" Tallis asked expectantly.

Severus looked at Hermione for assistance. "He was wondering if you and Bill would like to play with us."

Severus closed his eyes briefly at the mere idea of playing such a game (whatever it was) but quickly shook it off. Here he was getting a chance to be a dad to his son, to make up for all of the years that he lost with him when he could have done things like this. "That sounds wonderful. Shall we?" he said, motioning toward the door.

Tallis jumped over to his Father and clasped his hand tightly. "It's going to be great! It's you and me and Ron against Hermione and Draco and Bill. Ron's never heard of dodge ball, can you believe it? But neither has Draco so we'll still be ok," he prattled on happily, completely unaware that his Father and Bill had no idea what he was talking about either.

The group made it outside and listened to Hermione's brief introduction to the fine art of dodge ball. The purebloods all thought the entire thing absurd—honestly, throwing rubber balls at each other! What the hell was the point?—until they started playing and then the true war began.

-

-

A/N: I know it is a bit cliché to have Tallis lose his memory at some point in these types of fics but I love amnesiac!Harry fics and it is too fun to write. Only a few more days until I get my DSL and I can update more regularly! Thanks for all of the reviews and thanks for sticking with me through my Internet woes.


	49. The End of the Day

Chapter 49 

Severus patiently ushered his son up to his bedroom, ready to drop into bed and sleep for the next week himself after the busy day that his son had planned. After an incredibly long muggle dodge ball game that evidently had no ending point aside from whenever Tallis declared the game over, Tallis had decided that they needed to go on a picnic halfway across their bloody property. Then he wanted to go exploring in the woods near the manor. Then he wanted to play knights and dragons, a game that he made up when he caught sight of some of the ceremonial sabers that were displayed on the wall in his Father's study. Severus found himself insanely grateful that his son was as old as he was and that he would soon be done with this stage. He couldn't wait to have his 17 year old son back. The six year old was killing him.

He was grateful though that, for the most part, Tallis had been a bright and cheerful boy today. He saw relatively little of the child that the Dursleys must have seen. Tallis only occasionally got nervous about being surrounded by so many men but he seemed to quickly calm down with either a reassuring look from his Father or Hermione. Severus prayed that it continued. Dealing with his son at his true age was difficult enough with all of the issues that he had (not that he would trade him for the world) but trying to deal with those same issues in a child would be impossibly difficult.

"Come on, Tallis, it is time for bed."

Tallis dragged his feet slowly up the stairs. "Can't I stay up a bit more?"

"No, Tallis. It's bedtime."

Tallis looked sadly into the guestrooms. Ron and Hermione were sharing a room and Bill and Draco were as well. "How come I can't have a sleep over too?" he asked forlornly.

Severus sighed. "They aren't having sleepovers, Tallis" he explained patiently. "We don't have any other rooms cleaned and opened for guests right now. They have to share rooms in order to sleep."

Tallis didn't look at all comforted. He sat on his bed petulantly, still angry that he couldn't play with the boys anymore. Hermione wasn't half bad either, for a girl.

Severus fought to keep his voice calm but firm. He wanted nothing more than a long bath and a warm bed and dealing with an irritable seventeen year old was not high on his list of priorities. "Come on. Let's get into some pajamas."

Tallis instantly was on guard, backing away from him slightly. He peeked out at him from under his thick hair. "I can do it myself," he said, a rather pitiful attempt at bravado that made his Father's heart clench.

"As you wish," Severus said, backing out of the door. "You need to be changed in five minutes, Tallis, when I come to check on you." He closed the door behind himself and sighed. That trial couldn't come quickly enough for him. He wouldn't feel better until he knew that Dursley was safely behind bars for the rest of his wretched life. The wretched woman too. There was no way she was oblivious to what was going on in her own house. It was simply not possible to be that stupid.

He reentered the room to find his son sitting in his pajamas on the bed, still outside the covers, kicking his feet that were still in his sneakers. "Are you sure it's bedtime?" he asked, hoping that his Father would let him stay up later.

"Yes," Severus said, stamping down his impatience as well as he could. Merlin, all those times he had wished for a younger son he had been absolutely mad. There was no way he could handle it every day. "Take off your sneakers and get into bed."

Tallis' feet abruptly stopped kicking. The wary expression was back on his face, making the potion master's heart twist again. _His_ Tallis hadn't looked at him like that since the very beginning and even then he had trusted his Father more than he did right now. Tallis finally spoke, almost whispering his answer. "I like to keep them on."

"You can't sleep in your shoes," Severus argued impatiently.

Hermione poked her head in the door. "How's everything going?"

Severus sighed. "Tallis was just taking his shoes off and going to bed," he said, not taking his eyes off his son, trying to encourage him to follow the directions without resorting to ordering him.

Tallis grew even more agitated, twisting his hands together.

Hermione stepped into the room. "Tallis likes to sleep in his shoes sometimes, Professor. It's best to let him," she said slowly, making sure that he understood her silent message to back the hell off of Tallis.

Severus turned to her quickly, staring at her. After a moment he nodded. "Of course." He turned back to Tallis. "Into bed, young man." Tallis scrambled under the covers, his eyes never leaving his Father's figure. "Would you like someone to tell you a bedtime story?"

Tallis nodded hesitantly. "Can Mione?" he asked quietly.

"Sure, Tallis," she said, settling down on the edge of his bed, grateful to see that he didn't immediately back away from her. He was evidently a bit spooked but not completely unaware of where he was and who he was with.

"Goodnight, Tallis," Severus said softly, closing the door behind him.

"Night Daddy," Tallis called after him, calm once more now that he knew that his Father had no intention of joining him in the bed.

Severus closed the door and rested his head against it for a moment, trying to get his emotions back under control. What the hell had just happened? He made his way toward Bill and Draco's room, not surprised to see Ron in it as well talking to his brother. "Explain something to me," he said abruptly.

All of the young men looked up in surprise. "What happened?" Ron asked.

"I stupidly suggested helping Tallis get ready for bed which set him off to begin with. That, I understand. I should know better than to do that by now. What I don't understand though was what happened when I returned. He had changed into pajamas but kept his shoes on. When I told him to take them off he panicked. Granger came in and essentially told me to leave it. What the hell is going on?"

Ron and Bill had turned pale when they heard that Severus ordered his son to take the shoes off. Ron hurried to explain. "They're his escape plan."

"What?" Severus asked, completely confused as to what the hell Weasley was talking about.

"When he was little he used to wear his shoes to bed so that he could run away when…well, when he needed to. When he was almost eleven though he decided to stop doing it, realizing that he was always caught and that the punishments were even worse than if he just stayed still. So he stopped wearing them. They were his escape plan before he knew that he was a wizard—before the tattoos. He told Mione and I about it a few years back when we noticed him go to sleep in his sneakers after a partial flashback."

Severus paled. "Merlin, I'm an idiot. No wonder I terrified him, especially after my earlier comment."

"It's ok, you weren't to know," Bill said softly. "Almost all of the things that come across as quirky or eccentric are rooted in things that the Dursleys used to do to him. His complete inability to ask for help when he needs it, his utter disregard for the rules, his disrespect of authority figures…they all lead back to the Dursleys."

"How?" Draco asked softly, speaking for the first time since he had entered the bedroom.

Bill sighed. "I'm sure you can guess the fact that the Dursleys would have died before helping Tallis with anything, ever. When he spilled something, he cleaned it up. When he cut himself, he bandaged it. When he had a broken bone, he fixed it himself. His constant rule breaking comes from living in a situation where the rules were always changing. Whatever he did was wrong and against the latest absurd rule, thereby earning him another punishment. He learned that rules are arbitrary and that it doesn't matter whether you follow them or not because you'll still be punished. His disrespect for authority figures is clearly rooted in his Uncle and Aunt and strengthened through the only other adult figure in his life who should have been able to be respected but wasn't—Dumbledore."

Severus sat heavily on one of the chairs by the fire. "I never thought of it all like that. No wonder I mess up so often with him."

"You really don't, Professor," Ron said. "We've known him for six years and have had a much greater opportunity to learn how he works. Not only have we known him much longer than you, but we also knew him in a time that he wasn't able to conceal as much. What seem to be personality quirks now used to be blatant issues that were immediately noticeable. You know him incredibly well considering how thick his walls are and how hesitant he is to trust anyone. You're great at reading him—most of the time better than the rest of us."

Severus scrubbed his face roughly with his hands. "Gods, I hope he wakes up himself tomorrow. I don't know if I can take another day like this one. I thought it would be wonderful to see him as a child but it is just disturbing."

"Madam Pomfrey told me that it would likely be a few days," Draco said. "She figures that he'll advance a bit with each day. I assume that means he'll believe himself to be eight or nine tomorrow." Severus and the Weasleys paled, exchanging long looks. "What?" Draco asked innocently.

"That's when the muggle started raping him," Bill muttered.

"When he was nine?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Eight," Severus whispered. Draco was too shocked to say anything else.

"He'll be hell to deal with tomorrow," Bill continued. "Maybe we should try to stay out of sight some, let Hermione work with him. He might be calmer with her around. She is a major calming force on him even when he is in his right mind."

"We'll see how he is in the morning," Severus said heavily. "If it is very bad then I'll send Hermione and Tallis out to the greenhouse for the morning to keep him distracted while we come up with a plan. We can only pray that he stays calm around her."

"Maybe he'll be ok," Ron said hopefully. Severus glared at him. "No, really. I mean look at him today. His uncle was already hurting him at this age, albeit it wasn't full rape. Look at how well he did though! He seems to have some of his current memories or knowledge mixed in with the old. He might be ok, just a bit skittish."

"We can only pray," Bill said sadly, turning to the window and staring out into the night.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Tallis woke with a start when he sensed someone in his room. He peeked hesitantly out from behind his blanket, calming only slightly when he caught sight of his doctor from the day before. "Good morning, Tallis," she said pleasantly. "Do you remember me?"

"You're Doctor Poppy," he said softly.

"Very good, Tallis. I have a few questions for you today. Do you think you can answer them?" Tallis nodded his head, remaining silent. "Alright. What is your name?"

Tallis looked at her strangely. "Tallis Snape. You already know that."

"So I do," she smiled warmly at him. "I have to ask you it anyway. How old are you?"

"Nine and a half," Tallis said, his voice almost silent.

Poppy studied him quietly for a brief moment, silently taking in his incredibly tense posture and his wary expression. "I believe that will be enough questions for today, Tallis. Why don't you get dressed? Someone will be along to collect you for breakfast in about ten minutes." She didn't want to push him any further. It was clear that he was not going to respond well to questioning and she didn't want to start his day off with a panic attack. Frankly, she didn't want to discover what would happen if Tallis had a panic attack while in this state. She quickly left the room closing the door behind her.

Tallis looked hesitantly around the room, making sure that he truly was alone. Once he was sure he was safe he scrambled out of bed and made his way to the closet, staring at the door in fear for a moment before deciding to brave it. He pulled the door open roughly and dashed inside, pulling clothes down from the racks without even looking at them and dashed back out into the open. He looked down at what he had grabbed. A pair of khaki green trousers and a bright green T-shirt. Not too bad he decided. Definitely not worth braving the closet again to get anything better.

He sat quietly in front of the window once he dressed, waiting to be called to make breakfast. He jumped when he heard a knock at the door which soon opened to reveal his Father's face. Tallis stood up quickly, practically tripping over his own feet in his haste. "Yes, sir?"

Severus smiled what he hoped was a comforting smile, largely rooted in his son's choice of clothing this morning. Merlin, no wonder the boy thought that Molly Weasley's sweaters were wonderful if this was the outfit he would have put together at age 9. "It's time for breakfast."

"Yes sir. What would you like me to make?"

Severus stood in silence for a moment, unsure of how to deal with this. "It is all made already, Tallis. You just need to come and eat it." Tallis stared at him, clearly shocked and unable to understand what he was saying. "Come along, the food's getting cold."

This, Tallis could understand. He did much better with orders since there was less to misinterpret and thus, less chance for punishment. He hurried to the door, coming to a halt just out of range of his Father, which Severus did not fail to notice.

When he entered the dining room he paused just inside the door and watched as his Father took his seat at the head of the table. He stared at the large table and the five people sitting there in silence.

Ron recognized the problem, having seen similar behavior the first time that his friend visited the Burrow. "Come on, mate, pull up a seat."

Tallis looked at him incredulously.

"Go ahead and sit down, Tallis," Bill said. "Your food will get cold."

Tallis slid onto the edge of the seat cautiously, still ready to run at any moment. The others pretended to ignore his jumpiness and continue with breakfast without comment. The dishes were all passed around, everyone heaping their plates high except for Tallis who merely took the piece of toast that looked the most burnt.

As Severus went to start his meal he noticed what his son was eating and sighed. "Why don't you have some fruit, Tallis?" he asked, knowing that was one of his son's favorite breakfast foods when he was himself.

Tallis looked eagerly at the bowl of fruit but didn't move toward it. Draco grabbed the bowl and spooned a healthy portion onto his plate and then handed him a grapefruit as well. Tallis stared at his plate silently before hesitantly popping a grape in his mouth, eyes watching his Father warily the entire time, waiting for his punishment.

When he realized that none was coming he started eating faster, quickly clearing his plate. He still held the grapefruit in his hands, reverently touching the chilled, pinkish skin. Hermione, who sat on his other side, noticed. "Tallis, do you want me to help you peel your grapefruit?"

He looked up in shock at the question and quickly hid the fruit as best he could. "No ma'am. Thank you," he whispered.

"You don't need to call me that," she said kindly. "I'm just Hermione, remember?"

Tallis nodded warily but didn't speak again. When the others began to stand he grabbed his prize and dashed off to his room to hide it. Who knew when he would get to eat again, especially after they had given him so much for breakfast? He hid the grapefruit under his bed, smiling happily when he saw it there, waiting for him to eat tonight. Tonight, at least, he wouldn't be hungry.

"Sorry we didn't warn you, Professor," Ron said when Tallis had left the room, leaving Severus staring after him in shock. "Tallis didn't stop hoarding food until well into his third year."

"Too many years of starvation…" Hermione added quietly before fading away. It was times like these that she felt like an idiot. "Why did we not tell anyone?" she asked desperately, turning toward Ron. "Why did we stay quiet?"

"We told my parents," he reminded her. "Dumbledore spelled them quiet. Looking at all of the signs that he gave us though, we were idiots for thinking it wasn't all that bad for that first year or two."

"When did you guys realize the truth?" Draco asked.

"It seems like every time we think we understand what it was like for him something else happens to reveal our stupidity and we learn that it was much, much worse than we can ever imagine," Hermione said sadly. "I guess we first realized it a bit before Tallis came to us with his plan for the tattoos. We didn't question him on it because we thought we knew the purpose."

"What did you think it was?"

Ron laughed harshly. "We thought that maybe his uncle slapped him around a bit. Merlin, we were idiots. Did you guys realize?" he asked Bill, knowing that those who were older than them might have realized it sooner.

"A bit. The first time I met him I knew that he was being sexually abused but I wasn't aware of the extent of it until I started dating him."

"Should I bother trying to stop him from hiding food in his room?" Severus asked, already weary although the day had just begun.

"I wouldn't, Severus," Bill said. "It will probably only last today and maybe tomorrow and it clearly makes him feel more comfortable with the situation. I'd just let it go. If he were still doing this while he was perfectly well then I would recommend a talk but I just don't think that the use will outweigh the panic and fear you will create in him."

Severus nodded. "Very well. Miss Granger, please go see if Tallis would like to visit the library and read for a bit or else play in the greenhouse. I believe it might be best for us to stay away for a bit and allow him to calm down again."

"Of course, Professor. Send a house elf if you need us," she said, walking off to her friend's room.


	50. Day Two

A/N: As evidenced by the fact that I "got" my DSL last Wednesday and haven't posted since, I have had major issues with actually using the damn thing. I believe my computer doesn't run on a high enough operating system (even though they swear to me that isn't so) and it won't ever work. So I have wasted countless hours trying to deal with the technicians and waiting on hold interminably…all to be relegated to the useless dial up once more. I'm going to try another DSL company I think. Argh. 

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Chapter 50 

Hermione barely reigned in her panic. She couldn't find Tallis. They had gone to the greenhouse after two hours in the library. The two had played quietly for about an hour before a house elf popped in to see if they needed anything. Tallis had disappeared before she could turn around and now, after twenty minutes of searching, she still couldn't find him. "Tallis," she called out hopefully, praying that he would respond this time to her call. "Tallis, you need to come out!"

Still nothing.

She sighed. She needed help. She left the greenhouse, quickly spelling the doors with heavy wards to let her know if Tallis left them, and then locking them on top of that. She needed to find the guys. She made her way to the study, relieved to find all of them sitting in there quietly.

Severus looked up in alarm when he realized that she was there alone. "What happened? Where's Tallis?"

"I don't know. One minute he was there and then a house elf dropped in and he must have been scared. I can't find him. I need your help, Ron."

"Sure," he said, quickly transforming into his animagus form: a golden retriever. He quickly padded down the hall, the entire group following him as he made his way towards his friend. Although retrievers weren't famous for tracking abilities he found that he could always find Tallis and Hermione no matter what had happened. The trio didn't question the ability, they were just thankful for it. He found himself at the door to the greenhouse and whined faintly.

Hermione pushed the doors open, immediately canceling the wards she had put up to protect Tallis. "Go on, Ron. We need to find him and make sure he's ok."

At his friend's words Ron barked once and dashed into the room, running through the large greenhouse in search of his friend. He spotted him curled up under a large flowering bush, his large paws and fluffy tail wrapped protectively around his small body. _Wait a minute_, he realized. _Tallis transformed_. He shook his head, needing to once again settle into his animagus mind that always seemed to move a bit more slowly than his human one. It simply took dogs longer to process things than it did humans, no matter how human-like they may be.

He crawled under the bush as best he could, barely managing to squeeze under it. He nudged Tallis gently, startling the small ocelot but he was pleased when the cat didn't back away at all. He could smell the fear on his friend but instantly realized that it was fear of something else, not fear of him. He crawled closer to comfort his friend, trying to take away some the mind numbing fear that was so glaringly present. Eventually the branches were simply too low for him to move any further, as enormous as he was.

He whined softly, making Tallis look up at him, contemplating the situation. The ocelot eyed the wide open beyond the branches warily and then took a few steps closer to it, finally plopping himself down in front of his friend, curling up once more as the dog curled around him as well.

The group had caught up to Ron just in time to see the dog's long tail swish under the bush. They knelt down and peeked under it; both surprised and not surprised to see Tallis in his animagus form.

Hermione sat back on her heels. "I don't know why it didn't occur to me that he could have transformed. Sorry, Professor. I didn't even think to look under the low bushes. I just assumed he was still human. I suppose he might have been able to squeeze under there even if he weren't in his animagus form right now though. He's pretty small still."

"It probably wouldn't have occurred to me either," Severus admitted. "Even knowing he had the ability I never would have thought he would have the control needed while in this state of mind."

"When did he become an animagus?" Draco asked, staring in awe at his friend.

"He accomplished the full transformation in the middle of our fifth year," Hermione said, peeking under the bush to her two friends again.

"Are you one as well?"

"Yes. I'm an owl. Ron and I didn't get ours until the beginning of our sixth year. We really struggled with it. It was incredibly frustrating that he finished his so quickly and it took us so much longer. We're used to it now though, him learning things almost instantly while we struggle for a while."

"And you?" Draco asked, turning to Bill.

"I'm almost there. Probably another month or so. Have you ever trained for it?"

"No."

"You and the Professor should train together," Hermione said. "I'm sure you both have more than enough strength and control to accomplish it."

"Does Tallis have a name when he is in his form?" Draco asked.

"Aegis," Bill answered.

"Aegis as in the shield of Zeus?"

"Somewhat. It is said by the muggles who study the old myths that when Zeus shakes his shield that a thunderstorm ensues and that men's hearts are filled with terror. A manifestation of Zeus' power, it is used for protection and as a warning for those who think to rise against him."

"Muggles are strange, reading such depth into a simple shield. Why do they try to give such detailed meaning to such mundane facts? It's a shield!"

"I don't believe they are entirely wrong, Draco," Severus explained patiently. Draco had still yet to learn the value in some of the muggle ways. "They might enjoy seeing that which we know to be true and factual as archaic myths for them to pull apart and analyze but they arrived to the right conclusions usually. The shield _does_ protect during battle as well as terrify enemies. I'm not entirely certain that an ocelot inspires terror in anyone but mice and small rodents but Tallis certainly does as a man. You chose his name well, Miss Granger."

Hermione blushed. "How did you know it was me?"

"I sincerely doubt that Mr. Weasley would have come up with it and I know that my son would have chosen anything so noble for himself without your influence."

They were all startled when they heard a rough purring come from under the branches and they all peeked under once again. Bill smiled when he saw that his brother was grooming the ocelot. Only Tallis and Ron could have accomplished something like that. Only they would be able to throw off instinct as a dog and a member of the cat family and get along as well as they did. As young men the two were startlingly different as well but they managed to balance each other out perfectly.

"Let's go back and sit down and leave them alone for a bit," Hermione suggested. "I brought some books down here and a few games. We can just sit and chat until Tallis is calm enough to transform again."

"Will he be able to undo it? What if he is too scared and stays like that?"

"Hm? It won't really be a problem. It might actually be better if he stayed as Aegis. He'd certainly be more calm," Hermione answered Draco, walking toward the blanket she had brought down.

The small group sat and chatted quietly until it was time for lunch. Hermione walked through the greenhouse to her friends, still curled up under the same bush. "It's lunch time boys," she called out, pleased when she saw first the large golden retriever and then a still slightly skittish ocelot crawl out from under the bush. "Come on," she said, reaching down and petting the dog. "Good job Achates," she whispered to him.

They made their way back to the group, Ron barking happily when he saw all of the food. "Calm down," Bill ordered, piling a large bowl high with food that his brother could safely eat as a dog while trying to keep a watchful eye on his boyfriend.

The ocelot hung back at the edge of the blanket, unsure if he was allowed any closer but his was stomach growling hungrily. "It's ok," Severus said, pushing the bowl of nearly raw meat closer to his son. "Eat up." Aegis eyed him warily as he crept closer to the bowl, bending down to take a bite and then jumping back when Draco made an unexpected move. Severus glared at his godson who shrugged sheepishly. "It's ok. That is your bowl. You can eat all that you want," he said soothingly, pushing it a bit closer to him.

Aegis moved closer and then slowly started to eat. The other four finally started their meals once the animagi had begun theirs. Before Severus was halfway through his meal he was startled by a brush of silky fur against his hand. He looked down in shock to see that Aegis had moved closer to him, evidently no longer scared of him as long as he had the safety of his animagus form. He ran his fingers through Aegis' silky pelt for a few moments, pleased that his son was finally not frightened anymore. The ocelot scrambled into his lap, circling twice before settling down for a nap, his tail twitching contentedly.

Hermione smiled. "Looks like food really is the way to a man's heart," she said softly, not wanting to wake up the sleeping cat.

Severus continued to pet the silky cat. "I hope he stays like this for a while longer. He's so much more content. I'm worried that the amount of stress he has gone through today will harm him if we can't find a way to minimize it better. This may be the best way."

Tallis napped all afternoon comfortably in his Father's lap. After Ron was certain that he was sleeping soundly he transformed back. The group chatted quietly until Aegis woke around four. He blinked his eyes open and yawned, stretching out as long as he could, nearly falling off of the comfortable lap in the process.

Severus smiled and started to stand, pushing the ocelot to the floor. "I have a rather lengthy list of potions that Poppy needs for the Infirmary. I might go make a few before dinner," Severus announced, bending to give his son one last pat before starting to leave. The ocelot quickly padded over to his side and sat down again, staring up at him with large, unblinking eyes. Severus looked at the wild cat in surprise. "Do you wish to accompany me?" he asked, feeling ridiculous even as he did it, speaking to an animal.

Aegis simply blinked slowly and scooted in closer to his long legs, leaning against his right leg as he yawned again.

"Do you need any help Sev?" Draco asked.

"No, I should be fine unless you lot get bored and want something to do. You lot may wish to catch up on your homework. The Gryffindors will need to return to school tomorrow. Unfortunately, we cannot cover for your absence any longer. You may return to the manor after the evening meal at Hogwarts if you so choose but only if you have attended all of your classes as well as all of the meals. You must make your appearance clear to the students. Draco, it would behoove you to do a bit of homework as well although you have much greater reason to stay longer than them as my godchild and near brother to my son. Even with that excuse you will need to return to school by next Monday so make sure that you are prepared. Poppy left your assignment list in the library before she left this morning."

The students all sighed but went to the library to work on their reading.

"Do you care if I come with you?" Bill asked. "I have a few days off of work anyhow and not much to do right now."

"Of course," Severus said, walking toward the lab. He smiled softly as Aegis walked silently behind them. Everything certainly had been up in the air for the last few days. He just found himself grateful that his son was alive and on his way to being well again. He didn't care what form he took during this healing time, so long as he would one day be himself again.

The two men and Aegis arrived in the lab shortly and Severus quickly set to work. He would cut or prepare a bit of an ingredient to give Bill a quick brush up on what he would be doing and then he would work on other things while Bill prepared his ingredients as he had been shown. Bill had never been as terrible at potions as Ron currently was but he hadn't worked with potions since his career at Hogwarts ended so he had lost a great deal of the knowledge and ability. A quick review was usually enough for him to pick it back up though.

"We still haven't discussed what happened, Severus," Bill said softly as he ground up yet another ingredient that was completely unidentifiable to him.

"I know. I'm almost scared to think of the implications." Both men silently ran through the rather short list of options to explain it. Either Tallis held enough power to make him into a sort of petty god (which they doubted) or else in his despair he had unknowingly tapped into a branch of necromancy, somehow twisting it into a pure art rather than the dark and soul twisting magic that it had hitherto been classified as.

"Has the Prophet caught wind of it yet?"

"I read the paper today quickly so I may have missed some of it but they seem to believe that the Dark Lord's curse had failed and that I was simply in a healing coma from a strong magical blast. No one believes that the curse worked. That much we are blessed with."

"What else did they say?" Bill said, keeping an eye on Aegis while they worked. He didn't want him to overhear the conversation for fear that he would understand what they were talking about and get upset. He noticed that Aegis looked a bit bored so he conjured some toys for him to play with, making a wide variety since he had no idea what, if anything, an ocelot would like to play with. It worked though and Aegis managed to amuse himself while the two men worked.

"The biggest topic was analyzing the potential truth behind the Dark Lord's claims that both he and Harry had been abused. Some believe that everything he said was a lie, others believe it to be true. They are practically demanding Dumbledore's head for this one. It will be interesting to see what the papers say tomorrow."

"Maybe we can use this to our advantage," Bill said. "Not that I want to cash in on your death and resurrection or whatever you wish to call it, but this whole situation may help us in the long run with the trial."

"My thoughts exactly. Now we just need to convince Tallis to go through with the trial and work on the golem. I hope to have the trial underway before the winter holiday."

"That would be perfect, especially if the worst of it was during the holiday itself so that Tallis could relax as far away from it as possible. If he's in school during it he'll have to hear a rehashing of anything the paper prints as well as speculation about what the jury cannot say. I'd rather spare him that if we could."

"We'll see what we can do. How did your visit with the Dursleys go?"

"Well enough. Poppy was able to heal all of the damage. He's still impotent but it would appear, even to a mediwitch or wizard, that he is simply impotent due to his excessive weight and drinking problems rather than the true cause. We should be fine in that regard."

"I trust that you left them with no knowledge of your visit?"

"Of course, Severus," Bill said smirking. "I leave no ends undone. Nothing will give you away in that regard. While I was at it I cleaned up his memory of his last encounter with Harry last summer. I didn't want him to remember how Harry defended himself. If he mentioned it in court it would sound too similar to the incident with Malcus Perry and people might make connections. He now believes that he kicked Harry out because he started to fight back too much, which is entirely true albeit not the entire truth."

"Very good. Did you also clear up their memories of the night?"

"Yes. They know that a wizard came there asking about Harry and their treatment of him but they don't remember the contract or anything else. As far as they are concerned they kicked the man out of their house after about the third question."

"Very good. I never should have gone there," Severus said quietly, cursing himself for even getting into the mess to begin with. Sure it felt great castrating the bastard but it was unnecessary and was making covering their tracks even more difficult. Nothing was worth putting his son in danger.

"I still think it was smart, Severus. At the time we were worried that Dumbledore would move more quickly and that he would try to take Tallis away from you or else return him to his relatives. It was the best thing to do, given the circumstances. Not to mention you now have everything legally cleaned up should the ministry try to take him away anyhow for some reason, regardless of his age."

"Yes but now we face misuse of magic charges for obliviating muggles after forcing them to sign a magical document giving up rights to their nephew," Severus responded sarcastically.

"Most of that wouldn't stand up in court. As his birth Father, you had a greater claim to him. They couldn't really refuse and frankly, the documents were superfluous. We were just being cautious by having them signed. If the assault ever comes forth then we can counter it by the obvious abuse of your son, all of which will have already been brought to light by the trial. No jury would ever convict you after hearing only a small portion of what your son endured with the Dursleys. The worst thing they have is the obliviate spell—which was performed by me, not you. Not to mention that Fudge passed that decree a few years back making it legal for any witch or wizard that was of age to perform the obliviate spell as needed upon muggles in most situations. Given the Dursleys' history as magic haters it only makes sense that we would want to wipe their memories of their more recent encounters with magic. You're perfectly safe. I made sure of that."

"I suppose so." Severus looked down at Aegis who was playing quietly in the corner, chewing contentedly on some sort of hard rubber toy that Bill had made. "We just have to make sure that he isn't ever left alone. As much as he wants to deny it he needs someone to take care of him."

"Don't worry. Everything is coming together well. The recent events were unexpected but I believe they may help us. Having Voldemort push our hands a bit might not seem ideal but I think it will be for the best. He's already prepared the world for a potential child abuse trial. Now we just need to make sure that we get the Boy Who Lived safely killed off and everything will work out well."

The rest of the evening flew by and Tallis still remained in his animagus form, unwilling or unable to transform. When it was time for bed he looked around his large, dark room where his Father had left him and shuddered slightly, jumping off the bed and running into his Father's room. He stretched up as far as he could to look up onto the high bed and found himself looking directly into his Father's dark eyes.

Severus took one look at the large, scared eyes of his son and reached down to scoop the ocelot up. "You can sleep here tonight, Aegis," he said softly, petting the now content cat. Severus sent up a quick prayer that his son would remain in form all night and not wake up in the morning in hysterics over being in bed with a man. He wasn't about to force his confused son back into his bedroom alone though, especially after it had clearly scared him so much. If there was a problem in the morning he would deal with it then. He hissed lightly as Aegis' sharp claws kneaded through his covers and into his chest and muttered a charm to prevent his skin from being shredded by the wild cat during the night. He fell asleep content, listening to his son purr as he dozed.

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A/N: Ron's name, Achates, is that of Aeneas' faithful companion, in case you don't remember your Virgil.

I also have never had the privilege of owning my own ocelot so Aegis is largely based after my own kitty with a few wild cat things occasionally thrown in. Hope I didn't offend anyone's sensibilities. I kind of figured that as an animagus he wouldn't exactly be like a true wild cat since he retains some of his own personality as an animal.


	51. Day Three

A/N: Don't forget that Aegis is Tallis' animagus name and Ron is Achates.   
Chapter 51 

"Bloody Hell!" Severus yelled loudly as an insanely sharp claw slashed at his arm. He jumped again when he felt a heavy weight spring off his chest and fall to the floor, claws clicking against the floor in a rapid beat as the ocelot tried to gain purchase on the slick floor.

Fuck. He had just terrified his son. Again. Severus shook his head, trying to wake up enough to deal with a scared ocelot. He muttered a quick healing charm to at least stop the heavy flow of blood, all the while wondering why he had only thought to protect his chest from scratches last night when he had performed the charm.

He slid off the bed, kneeling down and dutifully ignoring the deep gouges in the wood floor that the sharp claws had made as he had no doubt tried to regain his footing after his rather hasty exit from the bed.

He peered under the bed, catching a glimpse of the small ocelot curled up in the far corner. The terrified ocelot backing further away when he caught sight of Severus who towered over him like a veritable giant. "I'm sorry," Severus said soothingly. "I didn't mean to yell, I was just startled. I won't hurt you Aegis. Come on out," he said, trying to coax the small animal out from the corner.

Aegis looked back at him unblinkingly, although he was no longer actively backing away. Severus tried for a few more moments before giving up. He walked quickly to Ron's room and knocked briskly on the door, startling Ron and Hermione awake. A sleepy Hermione opened the door, waking up quickly when she caught sight of her Professor. "What's the matter?"

"Aegis startled me this morning and I yelled out without meaning to. He's hiding under my bed. Can you send Mr. Weasley to try to coax him out?" Merlin, he hated having to ask for help. Why the hell hadn't he ever trained to be an animagus before now? He sighed. He was being irrational. There was no way he could have ever foreseen this eventuality, that his fully grown son would transform and hide from him under his own bed and that he would need to be an animagus to calm him down again.

Ron walked up to the door, pulling a shirt on as he went. "Sure thing, Professor." The small group walked down the hall toward Severus' room, Bill and Draco joining them as well after hearing the commotion. Ron immediately shifted upon entering the room and wriggled himself under the enormous bed, moving quickly to calm his friend down.

"Let me heal that, Professor," Hermione said, having noticed her professor's bleeding arm the moment that she opened the door. No wonder he had yelled. The cut was nasty.

Severus reluctantly allowed her to lead him toward his bathroom, Draco following close behind to assist. He had a strong base in healing potions as well and would be able to help her if she needed anything. "Did he sleep the night with you?" Draco asked, digging through the cabinet as Hermione spelled the blood away, cleansing the wound.

"Yes. I think he was scared in his room. He didn't last ten minutes in there."

"It is only recently that he has been able to see such a large bedroom as a comfort," Hermione said as she worked on the deep and jagged cut. "Before that he was terrified of them because it was only in big rooms that his uncle could get to him. His cupboard was too small for Vernon to squeeze into. He's always found safety in small spaces. That's why he keeps hiding in these ridiculously tiny places. He does the same still as a man although it is not quite as noticeable I suppose."

Severus nodded silently, ignoring the sting from the potion that Draco had chosen to rub into the wound. "I was an idiot for not thinking of that earlier," he finally said.

"Hardly. Not many people would have realized it. I only know that because he spent one night in the common room with me rather than go up to the boys' dorm room alone. For one reason or another all of the other boys in his year were spending the night elsewhere and he was terrified to sleep there alone. So we had a slumber party in front of the fireplace and roasted marshmallows and stayed up late telling stories. Toward the early hours of the morning he finally confessed why we were having the slumber party to begin with.

"More than that though he is scared of the dark, at least when he is alone or can't reach a light. The Dursleys used to take his light away from him in the cupboard leaving him in the dark for days on end. As an ocelot he didn't have his wand to create light and he was jumpier than usual yesterday. I'm sure you turned out all the lights when you left, as most people would have done, making him panic that the light wouldn't ever be turned back on." She tied the bandage firmly around his forearm, giving it a pat. "There. That should do it."

"You could have bound that with magic," Draco commented.

"I guess so. I tend to still do some things with my hands without even thinking of it, especially if I am concerned about something else. Do you think Achates has gotten Aegis to come out yet?"

"Perhaps. When do you think he will transform again? He's probably 13 or so today, wouldn't you think?" Severus said.

"If he keeps progressing as he has done then he should be."

Hermione's face fell at Draco's words. "I doubt he'll change back then. Perhaps tomorrow. Ron and I have to go back to school today. Will you three be ok here with him? What will you do if he gets scared again?"

"We'll think of something," Severus said. "If it gets really bad I'll contact Poppy and have her collect you and Ron from class so you can come back."

"If all goes well then expect us around eight tonight," Hermione said as they walked back into the room. Achates was just crawling back out from under the bed, closely followed by Aegis who stayed within inches of his side the entire time, evidently scared to step further away.

"Are you two ready for breakfast?" Bill asked brightly.

Achates barked happily and Aegis looked a bit pleased at the idea although he still kept a wide berth around his Father.

As they were walking down the hall Madam Pomfrey appeared, having portkeyed into the library and was now walking up to her charge's room. "How's my patient today?" she asked cheerfully.

Severus turned and motioned toward the two animani.

"Oh," she gasped. She had never seen Tallis' animagus form since the trio had wanted to keep it a secret. "Well, it's probably for the best. May I see you a bit closer, Tallis?"

"Aegis," Draco corrected her.

"What a perfect name. May I see you Aegis?" Aegis walked hesitantly toward her, stopping a few feet away. "You look absolutely lovely," she murmured, bending down toward him. He leaned away but did not run. She stilled her hand for a moment allowing him to become accustomed to her presence and to understand that she wouldn't hurt him. When he settled down again she reached out again, this time being allowed to pet his silky fur gently. "I think you'll do better in this form today," she said quietly to the skittish ocelot. She stood back up. "When did he change?"

"Yesterday morning. A house elf startled him," Hermione explained.

"I see. Well, it is probably for the best that he spend a day or two like this. If he's this skittish as an animal I can't imagine how he would be as a man. He's probably incredibly confused right now. Call me if you need anything, Severus." She turned to the two Gryffindors. "Am I to escort the two of you back to school?"

"Sure Poppy," Ron said, changing back suddenly. Aegis ran and hid behind Draco, peeking out between his legs occasionally.

"Honestly Ronald, did you have to do that right here?" Hermione demanded.

Ron shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"Your form is lovely as well," Poppy said, leading the two Gryffindors back toward the library to portkey out.

"Breakfast?" Severus asked the two who remained.

"Sounds good," Bill answered while Draco merely nodded.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Draco, Bill, Severus and Aegis were sitting in the library, Draco and Severus chatting softly in the corner while Bill read quietly and Aegis dozed in front of the fire. Aegis suddenly woke up and looked around, sniffing the air carefully. Draco and Severus watched in silence as Aegis walked slowly over to Bill and then plopped down heavily on his feet, purring happily. Bill looked up in shock.

"Well," Draco said, smiling. "Guess it looks like he got a bit older than expected this time or else he aged some during his naps."

"What?" Bill asked, still confused.

"It looked like he was scenting for his mate," Severus explained. "He must be older than we expected. Perhaps he will be himself again tomorrow."

Bill simply nodded and reached down to pet Aegis for a moment. The memory of his lover's motionless body after he had healed Severus still brought tears to his eyes. He had been so terrified that Tallis would die. When Tallis had woken the terror was replaced with the cold fear that Tallis would never be the same again. Once he had heard Poppy's confident proclamation that Tallis would be himself one day in the near future he could finally breathe again but these past few days had been incredibly stressful.

He could handle the everyday stresses. He could handle the panic attacks and the flashbacks and the quirky behavior traits that were remnants of his miserable childhood. He couldn't handle losing Tallis completely though. He blinked back the tears that came to his eyes. Just a few days ago they had exchanged their first "I love you-s." They had moved so far from that moment and with such little warning. He smiled when Tallis rolled over, letting him rub his belly. He would have Tallis back soon.

"What are we going to do about all of the press?" Draco whispered to his godfather.

"I'm not sure. We need to talk to Tallis about it when he is better. The thought has occurred to me though that we would no longer need to fake Harry Potter's death in order to have a trial."

Draco was about to answer when Hermione and Ron blinked into sight; their portkeys depositing them in the library as they always had. Tallis started from the disruption, hiding behind Bill's lanky legs, shaking in fear. Although he was clearly older and should know about magic his mind was still in a turmoil from the various memories that were flooding him as well as suffering from the handicap of being in his animagus form and therefore not thinking as clearly.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "How's he been doing?" she asked quietly.

"Very well. We think he may be more like 14 or 15 with the way he's latched on to Bill," Draco answered.

Ron looked over at the two, watching Bill calm Aegis down quietly and coax him back onto the footstool. "Must be," he agreed. "Have you two seen today's paper?" he asked, starting to pull a copy from his bag but stopping when he saw Hermione's silent gesture.

"Study," Hermione whispered, nodding toward the door.

The three men agreed instantly. "We're going to the study for a moment Bill," Severus called out. "Let us know if you need anything." Bill nodded but kept his attention on Aegis, hoping to help him shift back if he was calm and confident enough. Even if his lover wasn't fully himself yet it would be a relief to have him at least human and remembering him again.

The small group walked quickly to the study, shutting and locking the door behind them. "What does it say?" Severus demanded immediately.

"They're screaming for a trial to determine whether or not the Dursleys abused Harry Potter," Hermione said immediately. "They don't care about the fact that the only evidence that they have is Voldemort's word, they just want punishment and they want it now. They want to determine the list of charges as the trial progresses rather than declaring anything at all up front. Right now they want to charge them merely with improper care of a wizard until they have something to add to it but they are demanding that the trial proceed as though it were a child abuse case. They've gone from wanting to put people in jail without a trial to wanting to try people without charges. They're doing the equivalent of treating a traffic violation like a murder charge in their eagerness to do something. They Dursleys deserve it as we well know but legally, it is certainly unjust. The world is in an uproar."

"Most of Europe has entered the debate as well, publicly denouncing Dumbledore and the Ministry for placing Harry into such a situation," Ron added, handing a second section of the paper over to his Professor. "It's a mess. I don't know what they'll do. It looks like Fudge might actually call a trial even though there is no real evidence and no one can find Harry Potter to testify."

"What about Dumbledore?" Severus asked quickly. This couldn't be good. No one was there that could subdue him. He still had Poppy and Lupin at the school but there was always the chance that they wouldn't be able to succeed and it was virtually impossible to contact them at the manor apart from Poppy's daily visits that could only happen at prearranged times. If there was a true emergency she would have no way of telling them.

"He's been silent but incredibly moody. He stopped appearing at meals after breakfast."

"Do you think he'll tell people?" Draco asked.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a long look. "There might be something we didn't tell you," Hermione hedged. Severus glared at her until she broke down and explained. "We took a vial of Harry's potion and dosed the Headmaster with it."

"How?" Draco asked, completely incredulous.

"Dobby," Ron muttered, almost embarrassed at their actions. They _had_ thought them to be a good idea at the time. It just sounded a bit ludicrous now to admit to using a mind altering potion on the Leader of the Light, however corrupt he may be.

Severus raised a single eyebrow. "There is no way my son had anything to do with this or he would have told me. No—more—he never would have done it in the first place."

"No, he doesn't know. We slipped Dumbledore the potion as well as a sleep potion and then we both spelled him together while he was asleep," Hermione explained in a rush. "He could still crack through it but I doubt he could manage it with a mere reporter asking him a few questions. It would take someone very strong to use mind magics on him and be able to break the compulsions or else it would take himself a lot longer to break through on his own."

"This will essentially force him to stay quiet until we are ready for it. I mean, it might still happen before we are fully ready but it should buy us some time," Ron explained.

"Force?" Draco asked.

Severus had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. "We might have stretched the truth a bit earlier. We implied—"

"Or outright lied," Hermione muttered.

Severus shot her a dirty look. "—that the potion would only work if the person taking it wanted it to work. We allowed people to believe that the potion could never override free will."

"And the truth?"

"It can't _fully_ control someone's words or their actions but no one can get beyond the protections laid out without the spell caster's consent or without it being broken by someone stronger than the caster. With Tallis casting no one could ever break it. With these two as the casters it will eventually be broken. The question is how much time they have bought us," he said, turning back to them.

"This is all unimportant in the long run," Ron said, ignoring the two Slytherin's glares. Draco thought it damn important that he had willingly ingested a mind controlling substance a few days earlier and Severus thought the question of the potion of great import. "The point is," Ron continued, "do we really need a golem anymore?"

"Sev suggested the same thing back in the library. Explain."

"Well, the world wants a trial. They are determined to have one no matter what, even if they have to make up the charges. Why waste our time and energy with obtaining a murder charge when their list of charges is a mile long to begin with?" Ron asked.

Severus thought quietly for a moment. "I can see some definite plusses to skipping the golem but I fear one enormous drawback." Ron looked at him in confusion. "If Harry Potter isn't dead then he is available to testify."

The three students sat in silence.

"He'll never do it," Hermione whispered.

"And he can't even submit memories as testimony in his place," Ron said sadly, "not that I think he would have agreed to that anyhow. What will we do?"

"Let's think about this for a bit longer and see if we can't work something out. I'm sure we can use this to our advantage," Draco said.

"Bill also pointed out the benefits of carefully scheduling this whole fiasco. This is a bit early to reveal our hand. It would be best for Tallis if the bulk of the trial could happen over the winter holiday so he wouldn't have to listen to nonstop speculation about the trial at school," Severus explained.

"He's right. Can you imagine the torture?" Hermione said sadly. "The school talks about him enough as it is, between the gossip about Tallis and the rumors about Harry Potter. Does that poor boy never get a break?"

"It will all work out. I will not lose my son over this," Severus said fiercely.

"Let's talk it over with Bill and Tallis. Maybe Tallis will be well tomorrow and will be ready to start brainstorming. I think it is time to bring him into this a bit more. We've done so much preparation already. We had planned to have a bit more done but at least we've gotten a huge head start on it. He can't object that much," Ron said thoughtfully.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Bill climbed into bed and then leaned over to lift Aegis up onto the bed as well. "Are you sure you want to sleep here tonight?" he whispered. Aegis simply blinked sleepily at him and plopped down into the crook of his arm, batting idly at Bill's long red hair until Bill pulled it out of his reach. "Goodnight," he whispered, spelling the lights off. "Goodnight Draco," he called out to the Slytherin who was sleeping on the sofa near the fire.

"Night," Draco replied sleepily.

Bill awoke a few hours later, feeling something different but unable to identify what was wrong. After lying still for a few moments he was finally able to identify it. He no longer had Aegis curled up at his side; he had Tallis back.


	52. Waking Up

A/N: In my timeline (made up completely by me and not based in any sort of reality), Halloween fell on a Tuesday. This means that Tallis woke on Wednesday and spent Thursday and Friday as an ocelot. _Today is Saturday_. I am fully aware that I could have made an effort to figure out what year this was supposed to happen in and what days of the week all of the dates truly fell on but frankly, I didn't care that much (and it would have messed up my plot). Sorry! 

Also, it would appear that I am an idiot and that the DSL does work. Ends up I had a crossed wire or something like that and a lovely technician came and fixed it for me. Yay DSL people!

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Chapter 52 

Tallis pushed back against Bill's large frame, grinding his arse against the lovely hardness he had discovered a few moments ago. He pushed back again, this time lining himself up perfectly with his lover's rapidly thickening cock.

Bill moaned softly in his semi-awake state, shooting to full awareness when Tallis ground against him again. He put a large, work roughened hand on Tallis' slim hips, pulling him in harder for a moment before stopping him completely as reality caught up to him fully. "Draco's here," he said softly.

"What the hell is Draco doing in our room?" Tallis demanded, immediately losing all desire in his confusion and indignation.

Draco's sleep tosseled head peeked up from the back of the sofa. "There aren't enough rooms open for us to all have our own room."

Tallis looked around himself in confusion. "What are we doing at the Manor?" he asked, getting more anxious as he realized that he had no idea what was going on. "Why are we sleeping in Mione's room?"

Bill sat silently for a moment, deciding how best to approach this. "Do you remember anything about Halloween Tallis?" he finally asked slowly.

Tallis didn't speak for a moment, trying to remember the evening. "We all went to the feast," he said slowly. "Nothing much happened. Wait, the lights went out, didn't they?" Draco and Bill nodded, leaving Tallis to move at his own pace as he put the evening back together. "Voldemort was there, but he wasn't there." He paled so suddenly that Bill held his arm out to grab his small frame, certain that he was going to faint. "He killed my dad. He's dead," he whispered, beginning to hyperventilate. "He left me."

"No, no," Bill rushed to assure him. "Do you remember right after that? Do you remember deciding to heal him?"

Tallis shook his head frantically, his eyes wild in panic.

"You touched him," Draco explained quickly, trying to calm him down before he lost control of his magic. "You touched him while you were healing him and it worked. You brought him back."

"You can't heal someone who is dead," Tallis snapped. "He's dead and you are all lying to me. It's a trick, it's all a trick," he muttered, backing away from Bill's arms and huddling against the headboard.

Bill nodded toward the door and Draco ran out to his godfather's room, not bothering to knock. He ran up to the bed and ripped the blankets off of him, grabbing an arm and pulling him out of bed still half asleep.

"What the hell is going on?" Severus finally got out as they neared the door to his bedroom.

"Tallis woke up. He thinks you're dead," Draco said urgently, tugging his godfather along more quickly.

This woke Severus up instantly and he pushed past Draco and literally ran the last few steps to the room his son had slept in last night. He came to an abrupt stop when he saw his son wrapped in a small ball, muttering softly about tricks and lies. "Tallis," he called out. "Tallis, I'm right here. No one is lying to you."

Tallis shuddered and wrapped his arms around his legs more tightly, shaking his head and refusing to look up at the familiar voice. If it was just a hallucination he didn't want to know that. He would rather live in a limbo of uncertainty than learn, for a fact, that his Father was dead. If he looked up and he wasn't there then he would know. He just couldn't do it.

"Tallis, we weren't trying to trick you," Bill said, trying to calm him again. "I swear to you, he is perfectly well. Go on and look at him. He's standing right here and he wants to see you." Tallis didn't move.

Ron and Hermione entered after hearing the commotion and took in the situation quickly. The two walked in closer to the bed, Ron walking around to the far side of it and Hermione simply climbing over Bill to get to her friend. Both sat down on either side of Tallis and wrapped themselves completely around him, holding their breath collectively as Tallis stiffened and then calmed down again without attacking them.

"We're here, Tallis. Everything is ok," Hermione crooned.

"No it's not. He's dead, isn't he? Like all of them. Dead."

"No mate, I promise you. He's perfectly fine. You did something with your magic and you were able to bring him back. He's not going anywhere," Ron said, rubbing the taught back while he tried to calm him down.

"He's alive," Hermione said. "He's not leaving you. He's here now, you can see for yourself."

Tallis shook his head miserably. "He's not there. It's a trick and you are all lying to me."

"I'm here, Tallis," Severus said. "Please just look at me."

Tallis shuddered when he heard his Father's voice, barely stifling a sob.

"I've never lied to you Tallie," Hermione said softly. "Please believe me now. Everything is ok. He's perfectly well."

Tallis looked up hesitantly at her words, eyes looking for the truth in her eyes before searching out his Father's tall form nervously, seemingly still expecting to see nothing at all or else a ghost. He stared at him in open shock. "You were dead," he whispered, still not leaving his friends' arms.

"You healed me."

"That's impossible."

"I know," Severus said simply.

Tallis reached out a violently shaking hand toward his Father. Severus stepped in closer, letting his son touch him, reassuring himself that he was really real. Tallis grasped his hand tightly, his fingers white with the pressure. "I'm not crazy. You're really here," he muttered to himself, seemingly reassuring himself of his sanity.

Severus sat down on the edge of the bed as Ron backed off a bit to give him some room. Hermione didn't move, knowing that Tallis could still lose it at any moment. Severus slowly hugged his son, holding him tightly when he felt the sobs wracking the small frame. "It's alright, I'm here now. We're alright," he said quietly, stroking his long hair slowly in an effort to calm him. "I'm alive. I won't leave you."

When Tallis had cried himself out he leaned back into Hermione's arms, not wanting to let his Father out of his sight for a moment. "I still don't understand what happened. Why was Draco sleeping with us? Why are we in Hermione's room?"

The men allowed Hermione handle this one, knowing that she could usually deal with the difficult questions with more tact than they could. "After you touched your Father you were knocked into a healing coma. When you woke up you were a bit confused."

"Like when I have a flashback?"

"A bit," Hermione acknowledged. "You had a strange form of selective amnesia. You remembered your Father and your name but you couldn't remember the rest of us. You got a bit better each day and today is the first day you woke up yourself."

Tallis closed his eyes. "How many days?"

"Today is November 4th," Hermione said softly.

"Did I do anything…" he faded off, not knowing how to ask if he had done anything utterly humiliating or if he had revealed anything that he wanted to be kept secret.

"We spent your first day playing muggle games around the manor and you spent most of the second and all of the third days in your animagus form," Ron rushed to explain, knowing what his friend was worried about.

Tallis nodded slowly. That wasn't too bad. Although he trusted all of them he still had secrets to keep. They would all come out with the trial but Draco had no reason to be admitted to the courtroom, nor did his Father. Ron and Hermione had agreed to remain outside unless they were testifying and he hoped that Bill would agree to it as well. He knew that would all love him no matter what was revealed but some things he just didn't want them to know. Some things he wanted to keep private. "I'm sorry."

"It was nothing," Severus said, still holding his son's hand tightly. "We're all just pleased that you are fully restored to yourself again."

"Did the press find out?"

"They think that Sev was just in a coma and that you managed to wake him up with a strong blast of magic," Draco supplied.

Bill knew that they needed to tell Tallis everything. He hated finding out important things about himself after the fact, and finding out about the current abuse debate from someone at school would be disastrous. "Do you remember what Voldemort said while he was at school? He mentioned that both he and Harry Potter had been abused by muggles." Tallis paled slightly but nodded, determined to hear the rest. "The Prophet picked up on that right away and there is a debate going on right now, trying to determine whether or not he was telling the truth."

"How bad is it?"

"About half of the people believe him and the other half say it is a lie," Bill explained. "All of them are pushing for an investigation though, to find out the truth."

Tallis closed his eyes. "I see."

"Nothing has happened so far apart from the debates. I saved the papers for you to look at if you want to."

Tallis shook his head. "Thanks for telling me. I don't need to read all the details. This was enough."

"Can we have some breakfast mate now that we're all caught up?" Ron asked, always prepared to create a distraction when his friend needed one. Conveniently (and not terribly surprising) his stomach grumbled loudly and made Tallis laugh.

"Sure," he said, climbing out of bed. He looked down at his clothes in shock. "What the hell am I wearing?" he said, looking at his horrifically all green outfit.

Severus bit back a smile. "Those are the clothes you picked out for yourself two days ago."

Tallis shook his head in bemusement. "Let's go get some new clothes," he said, grabbing Bill's hand and pulling him toward their room. He slammed the door behind them, reaching up to Bill eagerly and tugging him closer. "We were interrupted earlier," he said softly, planting small kisses along Bill's jaw.

"Are you sure?" Bill asked, hesitant to start anything after the incredibly emotional morning his lover had endured.

Tallis stood on his toes, moving to nibble on Bill's earlobe. "I need you right now."

Bill understood that. He reached down and pulled Tallis' shirt off, tossing it aside. "Merlin, I've missed you." Tallis leaned into the seeking hands, practically purring as they stroked his toned chest and back. Bill reached down to work on the trousers as well, unwilling to take it slowly. He needed this too. He needed to know that his lover was truly all right, that he was his again.

He quickly stripped Tallis off and pushed him backward onto the bed, making quick work of his own pajamas before joining Tallis on the bed. He covered him completely, thrusting gently against him, making Tallis hiss at the contact.

"Please," Tallis whispered, tears suddenly coming to his eyes.

Bill gently kissed them away. "I'm here with you love. Everything is all right. We're all fine," he said, still stroking him slowly.

Tallis looked up at him, his green eyes reflecting his pain and his need. Bill reached down to start preparing him, knowing that more than anything Tallis needed this right now. He slid into the warm heat, holding Tallis to himself tightly, kissing him and murmuring his love to him over and over.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

"Looks like they got distracted," Hermione commented with amusement as they sat at the breakfast table, waiting for Bill and Tallis.

"Evidently," Severus said dryly. He understood though. He had often turned to Lily for sex when he needed some comfort as well. He knew that his son was incredibly shaken by the past few days and that he needed something to make him feel like himself again, to feel like everything was as normal and that things were no longer in flux.

"At least they waited 'til they were in a different room this time," Draco said.

"You too?" Ron asked, remembering the near call they had all had when Tallis had come home during their meeting a few weeks ago.

Draco blushed lightly. "At Gringott's."

Severus rolled his eyes. "New topic," he demanded, making the students all giggle.

"When do you think you and Tallis will return to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.

"Perhaps after the weekend is over. I'll have to see how he does tomorrow to see if he'll be ready by Monday."

Tallis and Bill entered the dining room then, both freshly showered and dressed. "Sorry," Tallis muttered as he took a seat. Bill didn't bother to apologize for their tardiness. He wouldn't have cared if they were two hours late. They had both needed it.

Severus cleared his throat. "We were discussing when we might return to Hogwarts. If you are ready, it might be a good idea to return on Monday."

"Today is Saturday?" Tallis confirmed.

"Yes. I think it might be better to be present in the school in case Dumbledore tries to do anything stupid. He's bound to make a move sooner or later," Severus explained.

Tallis nodded. "Of course. That sounds good."

Tillie popped into the room bearing the Daily Prophet. "The paper has come for you, Master Snape," she said, handing it to Severus who quickly nodded his thanks. He opened the paper, scanned the headlines and the first few sentences and closed his eyes for a moment, folding the paper closed again.

"What is it?" Tallis asked warily.

Severus sat in silence for a few more moments before getting the strength to reply. "Last night at nine p.m. the Headmaster called a press conference. He denied any possibility that Harry Potter's relatives could have abused him. As a sign of goodwill he announced that Harry would be returning to his family for the winter holiday to enjoy a family Christmas."

Tallis paled and started shaking lightly. "I'm not going back there," he said firmly despite his obvious terror. "He can't make me do that."

"There is no way in hell I would ever let you," Severus snapped. He closed his eyes again. "I'm sorry, Tallis, I didn't mean to snap. Suffice to say you will not be returning to them ever again."

"What will we do?" Tallis asked, calming down now that he knew, for certain, that his Father wouldn't be sending him back to them.

"I believe it is time to create the golem," Bill answered for all of them. "I mentioned the possibility to you before and you wanted to put off the decision. What better time to do it though? With Dumbledore forcing you back into their house we need to send someone or something there. We can send the golem in your place. If the Dursley's harm it or kill it then we will simply have more evidence for the trial."

"I'm still not certain about a trial," Tallis said, toying with his fork and avoiding their eyes.

"I don't believe not having a trial is an option anymore," Hermione said softly. "The Wizarding world is demanding one. The only thing we can control is how you are involved in it. If Harry Potter is still alive he _must_ testify. If the world believes him to be dead then you will be done with it. They will try the Dursleys on their own. Whatever you decide though, the Dursleys _will_ have a trial."

"What about Dumbledore's press conference? Didn't that make a trial unnecessary?" Tallis asked desperately.

"It delayed it a bit, at best," Ron explained. "He might have calmed the people down for the moment but within a few weeks they will be on end again, demanding an investigation. I'm sorry, mate, but the trial will happen either way."

"You just need to decide what role you want to have in it. Do you want to go as Harry Potter and offer testimony or do you want to stand to the side as Tallis Snape and avoid the thing as much as possible?" Bill asked.

Tallis sat quietly for a few long minutes as the others sat tensely awaiting his response. "Harry Potter needs to die," he finally said slowly. "We need to make the golem."

"The Dursleys might not kill it," Hermione reminded him gently. "There is still the possibility that you will need to endure a trial."

Tallis looked up at her, his eyes poorly masking his sorrow. "That won't be a problem. They will kill me within a few hours. I attacked Uncle Vernon. That will not go unpunished."

Bill sighed and scooted closer to him, pulling him into his arms. "No matter what happens, you will always have us. We're never leaving you, you know that don't you? You'll always have me. Your Father and Draco are your family and will never leave you. Ron's your brother now through me and you know Hermione isn't going anywhere. We'll be at your side no matter what."

Tallis smiled weakly and settled into his side. "I guess we have a lot of work to do before we go back to Hogwarts."


	53. Not Talking About It

Chapter 53 

Remus looked down at the cryptic note he had received once more before shrugging his shoulders and saying the word to activate the portkey, not surprised when he ended up at what appeared to be Snape manor. Poppy had been keeping him filled in on his godson's progress and he had expected a summons after he had heard the press conference.

He walked up to the massive doors and knocked hesitantly. He had never been to Snape manor before but the building could be nothing else. It looked exactly how he had always envisioned Snape's family home—wealthy but not ostentatious. An impeccably dressed house elf opened the door and ushered him into the library where he saw his godson and his lover, Snape, Malfoy, Hermione and Ron awaiting him, books spread throughout the room.

"You came," Tallis said with open happiness and relief. He didn't give him a hug but his joy at his arrival and the lopsided grin was enough for Remus.

He smiled down at him, looking at the mounds of books that surrounded Tallis as he sat on the floor in front of the fireplace. "What are you doing?" he asked, settling down near him and Bill on the floor, not bothering to pull up a chair.

"Research. We've decided to make a golem and I've never done one before. Have you?" Tallis asked, impatiently brushing his hair back off his face again. Bill reached over and tied it back for him, earning him a smile of thanks.

"I've done it a few times but never for as long as you are going to, if I understand correctly. I've never had to make one as realistic as you either," Remus explained, gearing up for a long explanation.

Hermione grabbed a fresh tablet and pen and settled down next to Remus, ready to take notes.

"We _could_ all sit on chairs," Draco reminded them.

"This is better," Tallis said, still flipping through some books even as he waited for Remus' explanation. "You can spread more books out like this."

Draco rolled his eyes and pulled his seat closer, Ron and Severus following suit.

"Tell us," Hermione demanded.

"Well, the best guide I've ever found for it is Ahmad ben Ismail's book."

"_Supernatural Life_?" Tallis asked, rooting through the books to find that one.

"It is better translated as _Unnatural Animation_. Have you read that yet?"

"I've been struggling with the translation."

"It is difficult since most of the words have multiple meanings. You need to understand the literal meaning as well as the implied meanings and to do that you need to understand the culture and the shifts in meanings and usages of the words that have occurred over the past centuries. As you can see with the title, the word that he uses can be simultaneously translated as 'life' and as 'animation' but the meaning that he intended was 'animation.' At the time, an entirely different word was used for 'life' that fell out of usage about two centuries after he wrote this book. The translation that you used was relying on the modern words, not the seventh century ones."

"I see. The same with 'unnatural,' I suppose?"

"Somewhat. That is more of a culture change than a word change though. 'Supernatural' implies something that is out our realm of understanding and knowledge. 'Unnatural' implies something that is against Nature herself. Ben Ismail saw such creations as movements against Nature, a creation of artificial life that was a mockery of true life. He pursued his studies further than anyone else ever has, before or since, in an effort to understand how to better create an imitation of life."

"I see," Tallis murmured, looking at the book with new eyes.

"You need to always keep in mind his constant fear of this power as well as his desire to learn more. He was fascinated by the ability to create a simulacrum of life but he also recognized the fact that as a mortal man he should not have the ability to create life in this manner. He believed that he was siphoning the ability from God himself rather than from his own reserves. As such he was filled both with the heady feeling of power and the terror that he would be punished for his audacity."

"I see," Tallis repeated. "So when he talks about gathering the power from elsewhere he was speaking of his own beliefs instead of literally?"

"Precisely. You will gather your power from within yourself. He believed that if he reached deeply enough that he would reach the heavens and pull from a higher being. It was undoubtedly the struggle that he faced with coming to terms with his own immense power that he seemed to have difficulty tapping into with regularity. His natural skill must have been in this branch of magic, making it easier for him to access his full power while performing this class of spells. Because he couldn't access it doing other types of spells he believed that the magic was not his own."

"Fascinating," Tallis murmured. "The twelve small fires?"

"Mmm…better understood as bowls of incense. He assumes that you will know that you need to purify the room in order to call forth a golem."

"You say 'call forth' and not create?"

"Well, you are in truth doing something that is in between the two. You are not strictly creating the golem but you are also not entirely calling it into being from another realm. You are doing both at the same time in a way. The being will feed off of your magic while it is here but it is not entirely created by you alone."

"So the more powerful you are the better representation you will be able to make?" Severus confirmed.

"Yes. We are all able to call into being the same life force but we are not all able to sustain it or to mold it into a believable representation. I can only create a golem that looks like a person, I cannot provide enough power or control to make it speak or think like a person and I cannot hold it for more than a few hours. I believe that Tallis will be able to hold a nearly perfect golem for a week or so."

"You really only need it to be perfect for a day or two. Then you can pull back some, giving it just enough power to sustain it's existence," Hermione reminded Tallis. Her unspoken words were understood by all. After a matter of hours the golem would be dead or else beaten into a nearly unconscious state. It would no longer matter if the golem could truly speak and act like Harry since it probably wouldn't be capable of speech.

"That is true as well," Remus agreed. "You will need something of Harry's to bind the golem to his form. Something very personal and important. Do you have something you can give up? It will be completely destroyed in the process."

Tallis nodded slowly. "Yes, I can find something."

"Would it be possible for Tallis to siphon some excess power from us to help to maintain his levels?" Bill asked.

Remus looked thoughtful for a moment. "I never thought of that. I've never tried to combine the two spells. Theoretically it should work."

"I should be fine," Tallis argued. "I don't want to tire you all out either."

"I know you have more than enough power to do it on your own but can you maintain it, possibly for a week or two?" Bill countered. "Can you do that _and_ appear in public?"

"We'll be on holiday," Tallis argued back. "It won't matter."

Severus cleared his throat. "Although you will not need to be teaching classes or actively present at Hogwarts you will still need to appear in public a few times. We still need to keep it firmly established in everyone's minds that you are not Harry Potter. If you disappear at the same time that he goes home then they will start to doubt you if Dumbledore brings it up in a trial. He is no doubt hoping to use this as further evidence for his side in case people don't believe him. We need to head that possibility off."

"Oh. I guess you're right. We won't really know how draining it is until we do it though, will we?"

"I'll look into the theory just in case," Hermione said, jotting down a few more notes. "That way we'll be ready if we do need it."

"In the meantime, reread that book keeping our conversation in mind," Remus told Tallis. "If you have any questions come talk to me and we'll work through it. I'm not certain I ever attained a perfect translation but talking through it might help us to stumble onto the true meaning."

The group sat quietly reading for a bit before the silence was broken hesitantly by Hermione. "Can we talk about what happened in the Great Hall yet?"

"No," Tallis said immediately and coldly without looking up from his book.

"Relax, mate, she's only trying to help," Ron said.

Tallis shrugged his shoulders and grabbed another book, still refusing to look up.

"Please Tallis. You need to talk about it, about what happened and what you did. You can't lock your feelings up on this. I don't understand—"

"What part of 'no' confused you?" Tallis snapped.

"Fuck you. We need to talk about it!" Ron snapped back, temper flaring.

Tallis finally looked up, his eyes blazing dangerously. "Fine. When every single member of your family has died and you are all alone in the world, come back and talk to me about how it felt to watch your last remaining relative die."

Ron was completely taken aback. "I…I…" he stuttered, trying to get a grip on what to say. "I'm sorry mate. I don't know what was wrong with me. You don't have to talk about anything. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Tallis stared at him, the fire still visible in his eyes, completely undiminished. He forcefully turned himself away from his friends and focused on his books again to calm himself.

Severus stood from his chair and walked over, placing his hand on his son's shoulder. He glared the rest of the people from the room, knowing that he needed to deal with this. Tallis was burying himself in another research project to deal with his emotions rather than facing them head on. While the research project _did_ need to happen this needed to be dealt with first.

When the door closed firmly behind them he sat down on the floor next to Tallis. "Find anything good?" he asked lightly.

Tallis shrugged his shoulders, fully aware of what his Father was trying to do.

"I think you're making some headway with that book of yours."

"I don't _have_ to talk about this, you know," Tallis said defensively. "I'm doing fine."

"Of course you are," Severus soothed him. "I don't mean to imply that you aren't. I'm just thrown a bit is all. It's strange to realize that you were dead." Severus prayed that his son didn't see past the ploy and refuse to talk to him. He hoped that if Tallis thought that _he_ was the one who needed to talk that he might actually get some of his emotions out rather than locking them back up.

Tallis looked up at him, searching his eyes deeply. "Are you ok?" he finally whispered.

Severus shrugged himself, then nearly smiled. He had never noticed before now that he did that. Guess that was where Tallis got the damnable habit from. "I don't really remember anything. I just remember a cold blankness and then a strong call to return. That's it."

Tallis nodded solemnly. "It wasn't very long. It felt like eternity but it wasn't long," he repeated, reassuring himself as much as his Father with the words.

"Bill told me it wasn't. He thought I was truly gone."

Tallis' fingers nervously paged through the book although his eyes were not taking in a single word. "You were," he finally whispered. "I felt for your soul. It had left me." He sat quietly for a moment. "_You_ left me," he said so softly Severus had to strain to hear him although he sat only a few feet away from him.

"I didn't mean to, Tallis. You know that, don't you?"

"You shouldn't have gone. You shouldn't have tried to fight him."

"He would have found me even if I were sitting up at the head table with you, Tallis."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have gone to the damn feast to begin with!" Tallis snapped, finally raising his voice.

"We never thought I would be the one in danger," Severus said reasonably, not rising to the bait and snapping back. "We were all convinced that if he attacked anyone it would be you."

"Well that was fucking stupid then, wasn't it?" Tallis yelled, tossing the book aside. "You and Draco were the only ones in any danger. He doesn't have a damn clue who I am. Why did you go to the feast?" he yelled, fighting back tears.

Severus felt helpless in the face of his son's rage and soul deep pain. "We didn't know. I'm sorry. I can't do any better than that, Tallis. I'll be more careful in future. I promise you, I won't leave you again." He pulled Tallis to him, hugging him tightly. Tallis fought the grip wildly, punching his broad chest as hard as he could given his Father's firm grip.

"You left me alone, just like them. You made me love you and then you left me." He finally broke down sobbing, giving up his token fight against his Father's embrace.

Severus stroked his hair softly, trying to calm him down. "I'm sorry, Tallie. I won't leave you alone again. You're my son—my family—I'll always be with you, I won't ever leave you," he said, trying to comfort his hysterical son. "I'm so sorry."

Tallis' sobs finally lessened and he leaned into the warm embrace. "What did I do?" he said softly, his voice muffled against Severus' chest.

"I don't know," Severus said equally quietly. "I believe that you have tapped into either a dead branch of magic or else an unknown one. What you did was like some form of necromancy but it lacked every single characteristic of the Dark arts."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. If you had truly used necromancy then I wouldn't truly be here—there would just be an animated shell lacking my true soul. I would no longer have a pulse or a beating heart. I would be one of the walking dead. It is very clear that whatever you did, it was not necromancy."

Tallis gave a sigh of relief but he still refused to look up. "I thought that maybe I had used them. The Dark arts. I thought maybe I used them without meaning to."

"No son, I'm quite certain that you are safe on that account."

"Do they all hate me now?" Tallis asked, looking warily toward the door.

"If they do then they don't deserve you," Severus said firmly. "They had no right to pressure you about talking about anything. You'll tell us more when you are ready to."

"More?"

Severus faltered for a moment. "Someday you may wish to tell us what the magic felt like—what it felt like you were doing, if it felt any different from any other magic you have used, how you accessed it…there are still a lot of unanswered questions. I'm in no rush to find out the truth though. We'll do this on your schedule or not at all."

Tallis nodded gratefully. "Thanks dad. Sorry about…well, about before. I didn't mean to hit you."

Severus shrugged. "I understand. Are you going to be ok though? Are we better now—you and I?"

Tallis nodded slowly. "I'm not sure why I was mad at you. I know it wasn't your fault. I just…I was scared. I was so scared."

"I understand, Tallis. I felt the same way when I brought you home. I didn't think you would ever wake, or if you did that you would ever be the same. I was terrified."

"I'm sorry," Tallis said softly, wringing his hands once more.

Severus bit back a sigh. Damn it, he was usually better about editing his words near his son, or at least wording things more carefully so his meaning was clear to Tallis. "You weren't any trouble at all, Tallis," he said, going immediately to the root of his son's fears.

Tallis looked up hesitantly, his fear evident. "Was it very bad?"

"It was fine, Tallis. It was actually nice in a way, getting to see a bit of what you were like as a child." Tallis shuddered involuntarily. Severus hurried to clarify. "I got to spend the day with you as a relatively carefree six year old. The rest of the time you were an ocelot but I will still treasure those few hours I got to catch a glimpse of what I missed."

"You didn't miss much," Tallis said quietly, studying his hands intently.

Severus grasped his chin firmly and tilted his head up to look him in the eyes. "What I missed I will never forgive myself for. I was a complete failure as an even remotely competent adult who should have noticed the signs and as a Father who never should have left you in their care to begin with. I am trying to redeem myself now but I fear I can never undo the hurt I did to you by my actions toward your mother. But for my careless words that last night with her, you could have been mine and I could have raised you at the manor."

Tallis scootched closer to his Father once more. "It wasn't your fault—any of it. Mum should have told someone. She shouldn't have kept it from me and she certainly shouldn't have kept it from you. I don't really blame her either since she surely couldn't have known how it would all turn out. It's just…it's nobody's fault. No one had any control in it, aside from Dumbledore. We're together now and you're not leaving again," he said, once again reassuring himself of his Father's presence as he looked down at his Father's potion stained fingers, staring to feel that the world was righting itself again.

Severus wrapped his arms around his son tightly, pulling him into his side. They sat together in silence for a long while, simply watching the flames dance in the fireplace. "I love you too," Severus finally said quietly. Tallis smiled softly and leaned more heavily into his Father, closing his eyes to rest.


	54. The Calm

A/N: Please note that I picked two Ambassadors from countries at random. Nothing is meant by my choices and there is no deeper meaning, so please don't go looking for it and either laud my choice of countries or rip me apart for not choosing others. Not that people generally are quick to attack me, I just wanted to warn everyone. 

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Chapter 54 

Tallis paged listlessly through the massive collection of articles he had assembled before him. The return to Hogwarts had been flawless, the students wary of speaking of That Night in his presence. After seeing his raw pain so unabashedly displayed at his Father's "death" the students no longer felt any joy in gossiping about it. Instead they, as the rest of the world, turned their eyes to the more interesting drama unfolding before them: the issue of Harry Potter's alleged abuse.

Dumbledore had kept his distance from Tallis and everyone close to him. He was evidently aware that he had been drugged in some way but had no clue what it was or how to undo it. Tallis and his Father knew that it was only a matter of time though before Dumbledore broke through the spell. Not only was it performed by a witch and wizard who were much less powerful than the Headmaster but they had to, of necessity, perform the spell in English rather than Parseltongue.

Tallis and Severus waited anxiously for the day that Dumbledore would break through the shaky spell and expose them to the press. They could only pray that their plan of making Dumbledore appear insane at the trial would work and they would avoid detection. If they could only make it until "Harry" was safely ensconced at the Dursleys and Tallis was clearly still with his Father then their case for Dumbledore's insanity would be much easier to prove.

A new article caught Tallis' eye. Merlin, they had gotten outrageous. Mostly true, perhaps, but still completely out of control. No child deserved to have their private life splayed over the papers like that, especially when all of it was pure speculation.

_Abused Boy Who Lived Suicidal!_

_As we look back over some of the events that have happened in the life of the Boy Who Lived since he entered Hogwarts one must ask herself: is the Boy Who Lived suicidal? Is he secretly trying to kill himself during one of his famous exploits in order to escape from his abusive muggle family?_

_In an exclusive interview with two unnamed Hogwarts students our suspicions were confirmed. "Of course Potter was suicidal. We could all see it. Why else would he chase after You Know Who?"_

_Another classmate elaborated. "Potter spends an unnatural amount of time in the Infirmary. Why else is he there if not to try to revive him each time he attempts suicide? Someday he won't be as lucky and the healers won't be able to fix him."_

_We agree that there can be no other explanation for his lengthy visits to the Infirmary. Can we, as responsible citizens, continue to stand aside and watch this boy drive himself to destruction in order to escape his horrific abuse?_

Honestly. If he had ever been going to kill himself it would have been over the summer hols, not while he was safe at school. Idiots. Other articles were perhaps less amusing but equally panic stricken. Despite Dumbledore's reassurances, it seems that the Wizarding World had finally opened its collective eyes and seen their hero for what he was truly: a malnourished, abused child. Pity they hadn't felt like seeing it earlier when he actually needed their help.

The speculation about Voldemort's untimely arrival in the Great Hall had taken second place to the abuse scandal but it still merited a great deal of attention from the papers. The authorities had finally decided that Voldemort's spell must only work when the stars were aligned properly, in a specific way that was different for each witch or wizard as the necessary alignment was influenced by the stars that the witch or wizard in question was born under.

Tallis found that he agreed with them, having researched the issue extensively in the small amount of free time that he had when he wasn't worrying about the golem or the upcoming trial. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to worry again about Voldemort appearing in two places at once.

The abuse scandal though was getting entirely out of control. For some reason, the mere idea that the Boy Who Lived could have been abused had shocked the world into action, although that action tended to be longwinded and bombastic articles about how their hero was in danger and needed them. In a move that shocked him, even witches and wizards from other countries were getting involved, claiming the Boy Who Lived almost as their own in their need to defend and protect the elusive boy hero.

French and German Ambassadors Demanding Trial 

_The Foreign Ambassadors from France and Germany are demanding that the British Ministry find the truth in the Harry Potter abuse scandal. They claim that they will leave the embassy and return to their respective countries if Minister Fudge doesn't do something. Neither Ambassador wishes to imply that their country would support child abuse and they feel that standing aside in this case would imply support of the Minister's inattentive care for the orphans of the First War._

_Along with the loss of these Ambassadors, we would lose the support of both France and Germany, something desperately needed in the fight against Voldemort. Once France and Germany leave, the potential for our other allies withdrawing support grows as well. Can we afford to lose such strong countries when our list of allies has grown so thin? We must implore our Minister to respond to these threats with an appropriate inquiry into Harry Potter's childhood regardless of Albus Dumbledore's claims that the Boy Who Lived enjoyed a perfectly normal childhood._

Tallis shook his head. This truly was turning into an international mess. The winter hols started tomorrow and hopefully the issue could drop soon. Tallis knew he was deluding himself though. This was just the beginning. The chaos would truly start once "Harry Potter" died.

He ran over the spells in his head again. Tonight, or more properly, early this morning, they would be calling forth the golem and investing it with a piece of Harry Potter. Tallis knew he should sleep but he found he couldn't bring himself to do so. After tonight, everything would change once more. He would be responsible for faking his own death. He was putting into motion not only a life changing event but a truly _world_ changing event. The Wizarding world would shake on its very foundation when Harry Potter was killed by muggles.

"Can't sleep?" Draco asked softly, stealing into the room.

Tallis looked up in surprise. "No. You?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "It's my first Christmas without my family."

Tallis looked at his friend, sympathy clear on his face. He said nothing though, knowing that words would be inadequate. Draco sat down next to him on the sofa.

"I feel like a prat talking about it. You're dealing with much worse, really. Merlin. Don't you ever just want to punch me?"

Tallis cracked a smile. "Not recently. And you're not a prat for being upset. I know that Lucius wasn't the best Father ever but you can still miss him. Or the idea of him. I understand. I still miss my Mum and James sometimes, even though I don't remember them."

Both boys knew that Draco was, in many ways, an orphan now. His mother could not risk coming to him and she would not be able to see him again until the war was over, assuming both of them survived it. He was left with the small comfort that were it possible, his Mother would like to see him. He found the comfort cold.

Draco gave him a small smile, relieved that his friend understood. "What are you looking at?"

Tallis handed over a handful of articles silently. Draco glanced through it disdainfully.

"Why do you look at this rubbish? It'll be over tomorrow and you won't have to worry about it."

"It won't be over tomorrow. It'll begin tomorrow," Tallis said softly.

Draco hummed noncommittally. "In some ways. I mean, you'll still have the trial but your role in that will be pretty small. I mean that after you send the golem to the muggles tomorrow you won't really have to worry anymore about which choice of action to take. It'll be done. The worry can leave. We'll just sit back and wait."

"I guess that's one way to look at it. Maybe you're right. I just want it all to be over, you know? I just want to know I'm safe and that Dumbledore can't expose me. He's the only one I really fear for exposure."

"Let's stop talking about this," Draco said suddenly. "Let's just pretend we're normal for the night and stop worrying about my bastard of a Father and your terrible relatives and Dumbledore and the whole Wizarding World."

Tallis grinned. "What shall we do then?" he asked, thrusting the messy stack of articles under a book on the table.

"Let's go play some Quidditch. We haven't played in months. Go grab your broom and come on!"

Tallis' smile grew wider as he jumped up to run back to his room and throw on some proper clothes to play in. It was incredibly cold out and it had snowed the night before. It would be perfect. He rushed into his room as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake Bill. He emerged from his room dressed in warm clothes with his thickest cloak on and clutching his broom proudly. Draco returned at the same time, ready to play.

"Let's go," Tallis said, aching to play again.

The boys went off at a near run, eager to get to the pitch. They made their way quickly but quietly, not wishing to arouse the ire of Filch with their midnight ramblings. Draco had permission to be out of the dorms this late since he was accompanied by a professor but they didn't wish to deal with the angry custodian tonight.

Unseen eyes trailed after them, taking in the barely restrained excitement and a simple joy that he hadn't sensed in Tallis for many weeks now. The figure sighed and went after them, determined to keep an eye on the young men to allow them to have their fun without interruption or attack.

The young men ran through the halls, taking long and round about pathways in order to avoid detection, taking as much joy in the "secrecy" of their travels as they were in the idea of playing Quidditch. With the stress of the year's events they found themselves missing the old pleasure of sneaking out after curfew.

They reached the pitch breathless and more than ready to play. Tallis swung his broom up over his shoulder as they waded through the deep snow to the center of the pitch, neither one wishing to break the silence and beauty of the night yet with flying. They finally stopped as one and stared silently at the weak winter stars as they glittered on the pristine snow. They turned to each other, ready for old times again.

"Think you can beat me, Snape?" Draco taunted, returning to the old banter that he hadn't been able to enjoy with his friend since he had become a Snape for fear of accidentally exposing him.

"I could beat you with my eyes closed," Tallis returned with a grin. "Think you can manage to keep up?"

Draco snorted and let go of the snitch, both boys taking to the air after a few seconds to allow the snitch to lose them. They flew as recklessly as they had in the past, enjoying the competition for the first time since their wonderful games in previous years.

A second figure joined the lone man who was watching over the young men for quite a while, still unknown to them. "How long have they been at it?"

Remus turned to Severus. "About an hour."

"It's damn cold man. You can go back inside. I'll stay."

"I'm fine Severus. I like being able to watch out for him, you know? Its rare that he lets his guard down enough for me to get to do something like this."

Severus nodded, understanding completely. Regardless of his son's best efforts he had remained wary of opening up too much to his godfather. It was still difficult for him to be comfortable around the werewolf.

"He flies beautifully," Remus murmured. "He's much better than any of his parents ever were."

"James was a brilliant Quidditch player," Severus commented with a minimal amount of animosity.

"And Tallis outstrips him tenfold, as you well know."

Severus nodded once more before settling in to watch his son and his godson play. The months spent out of the air hadn't hurt Tallis at all and he still flew with an almost unnatural grace and skill. "We need to begin the spell in a few hours."

Remus nodded. "Do you think this will work?"

"It has to," Severus said, his desperation clear.

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Author's Note: PLEASE READ!

In the spirit of our recent elections (America-local gov't) I have decided it is time for another vote.

In our last vote we decided that there definitely will be a trial. Now up for discussion is what will happen after the trial:

A. Dumbledore and Dursleys sentenced to life in prison. We leave them to rot in their cells.

B. D and Ds sentenced to the Kiss. They lived their lives as soulless bastards…might as well make it official.

C. D and Ds sentenced to life in prison. Severus and Co. arrange it so that Voldemort decides it would be a good idea to have a little playtime with Dumbledore, the Dursleys or all involved.

Totally different option that I haven't thought of, decided by readers.

No matter what, Dumbledore and the Dursleys WILL be convicted. While it happens all too often in real life that a rape victim suffers through a trial only to have their rapist acquitted that will not happen in my fic.

Let me know what you think! I can't wait to hear your thoughts! The reviews are always so incredibly helpful to me in planning these fics. People always seem to ask the right questions or drop the right hints or make interesting requests that spark my muse. I'm eager to read what you all think on this.

Thanks!


	55. Home for the Holidays

Poll results so far: 

A. Life in prison: 17.5

B. The Kiss: 15.5

C. Voldemort deals with them: 56.5

D. Make them relive Harry's torture: 2

E. Put Dumbledore in a mental ward: 3

F. Random person assassinates Dumbledore à la Lee Harvey Oswald (the guy that killed American President John F Kennedy and then was killed by random angry citizen(s) for those who are unfamiliar with American history): 1…very interesting idea…I'm really warming up to this one. Brilliant suggestion

The 1/2 votes come from people saying 'option X for these people and option Y for these.'

As you can see, Voldemort dealing with the Dursleys is by far the most popular choice right now. Thanks so much for your opinions! I'll be closing the poll this Thursday and removing it from the previous chapters to limit confusion as I have done before. Thanks so much for your wonderful and thoughtful answers.

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Chapter 55 

Tallis stood listlessly next to Draco as they waited to board the train. He felt weak already and he had broken into a cold sweat. Draco looked down at him in concern and took his bag from him, trying to lessen the burden on his friend as much as possible.

Ron and Hermione watched their friend carefully but discretely, just as worried as Draco was. Creating the golem had been worse than they had ever imagined. Remus had never truly attempted anything like it. He had managed to make the life essence of the golem take _a_ human form, not needing to mold it into anything specific. He had only been doing it out of curiosity, not out of a true need. He had read about them and had decided to attempt it. Even with the concession of the simpler form the golem that Remus had created had faded with a few hours.

Tallis' golem was an exact reproduction of Harry Potter down to the DNA—a nearly impossible feat. He had already held it for six hours. He needed to hold it for quite a few more before he could safely release some of the power that he was feeding into the animated life form he had created.

The doors to the train opened for the students to board and Draco grasped his friend's elbow firmly and helped him to step up into the car. He claimed the first empty compartment he found, pushing Tallis into the seat with a glare to make him stay there while he went back outside to claim their bags.

He was stopped in his steps by seeing Ron and Hermione carrying their bags. "You left these outside, Malfoy," Ron said.

The tensions between Gryffindor and Slytherin had been abnormally low this semester but people were still somewhat shocked to see the two talking so amiably. They knew that Ron wouldn't be speaking with Malfoy if it weren't for the fact that he was currently taking care of Apprentice Snape who was nearly Ron's brother in law if the gossip was to be believed.

"It looks like Apprentice Snape isn't feeling well. He told me he thought he was coming down with a cold. I have some Fever Reducer in my bag. Do you want some?" Hermione asked, watching her friend anxiously through the partially opened door.

Draco glanced back into the compartment, seeing Tallis sit bonelessly on the plush cushion, his eyes closed and his face pale. "That would be good. Maybe he can sleep some during the ride."

Hermione rummaged through her bag and offered him the vial. "Take care of him, Malfoy. Too bad he couldn't just take a portkey to his home. I hate these ridiculous rules."

The students who were near the trio nodded. Sympathies were at an all time high for the young Apprentice since Halloween night. They also knew that Dumbledore was responsible for making the young man ride the Express rather than use a portkey or apparate home like the other professors were allowed to do. A low grumble rose among the students, irritated at the Headmaster's lack of sympathy for the obviously sick young man.

Draco thanked Hermione quickly and returned to the compartment and closed the door firmly, frosting the glass so that curious students couldn't peek in. "Tallis, you need to take this," he said softly, not wishing to disturb his friend but knowing that he needed to get his fever down.

Tallis nodded slightly but did not open his eyes. Draco sighed and opened the potion, holding it to his friend's lips for him. Tallis swallowed the potion and the color returned to his cheeks, although he still looked ill.

"I don't know if I can do this," he whispered.

"You'll be fine. It's just a shock right now. In a few hours you'll feel better."

"I can't wait to be back home. I wish that Ron and Mione could stay with us. It'll be great with the four of us though. Like a real family."

Draco smiled, knowing how important that was to his friend. Truth be told, he was looking forward to it too. His holidays at Malfoy Manor had never been a time for family either, apart from a few quick minutes with his Mother when she could steal away. "Will Bill stay with us or is he going back to his family?"

"He's staying with us most of the time. He's going home on Christmas Eve to stay at the Burrow but will come back in time for Christmas dinner. I guess the Weasleys make a bigger fuss over opening presents in the morning and Christmas breakfast than dinner."

"I still haven't done my shopping, have you?"

Tallis shook his head, his energy level already going back down.

"Maybe we can go tomorrow or the day after, even if just for a little bit."

Tallis looked concerned at the mere idea of doing something so active.

"You have to get out Tallis, and soon. You know that."

Tallis nodded reluctantly. "We'll go first thing tomorrow morning. I think I'll feel best when I first wake up. Who's taking first shift tonight?"

They had set up shifts of watchers to keep on eye on Tallis' magical activity and energy levels while he slept to ensure that he didn't unknowingly release the spell while he slept. He usually had no problem keeping even complex spells going at full force even without concentrating on them but they feared his ability to do so with the golem spells. By constantly monitoring his activity they hoped to prevent the spell from spontaneously ending if they could catch it in time.

"Bill's on first shift, then Remus. Tomorrow is Severus first and then me. Is Bill working tomorrow?"

"Yeah. He's had a lot of time off this semester between just asking for extra time and needing it for Halloween." Tallis had a hard time discussing what had happened even still.

"Maybe Sev will come shopping with us tomorrow."

"I'm sure he will. He barely lets me out of his sight," Tallis said, covering a huge yawn.

"Why don't you take a quick nap? I'll keep an eye on you," Draco said.

"Are you sure?" Tallis wasn't up for a long argument and he was quick to convince.

"Absolutely. Go to sleep."

Tallis stretched out on the seat, able to lay down fully without hitting either end of the compartment. Draco smiled. He hadn't been able to do that for years now. Tallis was asleep almost instantly and Draco quickly performed the spell that Poppy had taught them to watch Tallis' vitals during his sleep. Everything appeared as it should, although his energy levels _were_ depleted.

They all believed though that as time drew on, the spell would become easier for him to hold. As with all new spells, it was particularly draining at first before it became a part of a wizard's repertoire of spells. Hopefully this would happen sooner rather than later.

They reached King's Cross all too soon for Draco's taste and he reluctantly roused Tallis. Tallis managed to stumble to an upright position, feeling refreshed after his nap. Draco helped him to bundle up in his cloak and scarf before canceling the spells he had placed on the door to protect their privacy.

"You ready, Tallis?"

Tallis nodded and Draco pushed open the door. A crush of students making their way off the train greeted them. A number of them shouted out their well wishes to Tallis, furthering the rumor that he was in fact, very ill. Hermione's spontaneous idea to give Draco a potion to lower Tallis' fever had worked marvels as everyone immediately assumed that Tallis was, in fact, ill and not simply exhausted from over exerting himself on a spell.

Draco kept a firm hand on his friend's elbow the entire time as he pushed his way through the crowd toward his godfather, catching a glimpse of the tall man as he stood out over the crowd.

By the time they reached Severus Tallis was nearly panting. He leaned heavily against Draco, managing to mask it as though they were simply talking privately. He found himself thankful for the first time that wizards wore cloaks rather than muggle coats, the extra material making it easier to disguise how they were standing and how much he was depending on Draco's arm to keep himself upright.

"Let's go," Severus said shortly, concerned at his son's appearance. He bent down and grabbed his son and godson's bags that some helpful Slytherins had deposited at his feet moments earlier. He put a hand on both boys' arms and activated their portkey. The portkey deposited them in the foyer and Tallis immediately collapsed. Severus quickly incanted the spell to check his son's vitals. They were still in a safe range, albeit low. He scooped his son into his arms and led the way to the library.

"Shouldn't we put him to bed?" Draco asked anxiously, walking after the two.

"You try to convince him to go to bed during the middle of the day," Severus said with some amusement. "If we go to the library he might lay on a sofa and sleep but if we put him in his bedroom he'll pitch a right fit."

Tallis faded in and out of sleep for the rest of the afternoon, each time he awakened feeling more refreshed and closer to his normal self. Finally, around seven p.m. he awoke and was ready to eat. Bill, who had arrived home from work an hour prior, took his arm as they made their way to the dining room for the evening meal.

"I think I'll definitely be up for shopping tomorrow," Tallis said eagerly to Draco as he took his seat, feeling better already. His body was adjusting quickly to the golem's pull on his magic.

"You're certainly looking better," Draco observed. "Are you coming Sev?"

"Do you think I would allow the two of you to go alone?"

Tallis and Draco snorted.

"Maybe we can meet for lunch," Bill suggested.

"What time to you usually eat?" Tallis asked.

"Any time. I tend to go about 1 or so but I can go earlier if you need to."

"No, that sounds good. I'll sleep late tomorrow and we can go shopping at eleven or so. I doubt I'll be able to stand shopping for more than two hours, at most."

The meal ended quietly, all of the wizards wondering silently what was happening at the Dursley residence. As far as Dumbledore was concerned, Severus was meeting his son at the platform and was going to portkey him to the muggles' house and leave him there with a glamour placed on him again to return him to his previous appearance.

What Severus had done instead was take his boys home and then, after safely settling his son into the library, he had portkeyed with the golem to Privet Drive.

A swarm of reporters met them there, their flashes nearly blinding Severus as they rushed to capture a few shots of the Boy Who Lived as he entered the house. A few reporters grabbed onto Severus as soon as "Harry Potter" had entered the house, trying to get an interview with the Professor who had just stood so close to their hero.

He informed them that the Headmaster had instructed him to apparate to a specific location that was not where the Boy Who Lived was training but a secondary holding room. From there, he had collected Potter and returned him to his relatives as he had been ordered. The reporters bought every word of it.

It had been around one when he had dropped off the golem. It was now after seven. They each wondered if the golem was still able to walk, much less still alive. The ease with which his son was now supporting the golem's life force was almost alarming. Part of it came from Tallis simply growing accustomed to the pull on his magic. The rest of it came from a weaker pull on behalf of the golem. Everyone knew it though no one would say the words out loud.

He found himself praying that the golem didn't die today or else all of their careful plans would be destroyed. It was imperative that Tallis be in a public place on the day and preferably at the time that Harry Potter died in Surrey. They could not risk both Tallis and Harry being hidden from the world when the golem died. It would make Dumbledore's claims more credible and it would be more difficult to convince a jury of his insanity.

Tallis slept soundly that night, not stirring for nearly twelve hours. When he awoke he dressed warmly, knowing that this trip to Diagon Alley was necessary but would be exhausting. Draco slipped into his room and silently helped him to get ready, adjusting his cloak once more and helping to tie back his hair.

"Ready to go?"

"As I'll ever be."

The two boys made their way downstairs, finding Severus waiting for them in the hall. "Shall we apparate or would you prefer we use a portkey?" he asked Tallis.

Tallis looked a bit bothered by the idea but he nodded. "We should probably use a portkey. I'm scared I'll splinch myself. I feel very odd right now…I can't quite explain it. The golem isn't pulling on me in the same way that it had been. It is almost as if I have to force my magic into it rather than allow it to be pulled toward it."

Severus eyed his son warily, knowing what his son's words meant but still unwilling to say as much. He offered Tallis a comforting smile and pulled out a portkey he had prepared earlier, assuming that Tallis would need assistance getting to Diagon Alley.

The three were whisked away to Diagon Alley, landing amidst the typical chaos of a pre-Christmas rush in the shops. They immediately went to the potions store, knowing that not only would the shop be nearly empty but that the shop manager would definitely remember their presence and comment on it to others.

"Hi Mr. Jacobs," Tallis said quietly after gathering his courage to directly address the man. He was an old friend of his Fathers so he knew he had nothing to fear from him. It was still a bit overwhelming to speak to men though, particularly in that age range…his uncle's age.

Milton grinned when he saw the young Snape. "Call me Milton, Apprentice Snape."

"Just Tallis, please."

"How has your first semester gone? I hear rumor that you've accessed your healing magic quite quickly. Healed your old man from a coma, if rumors tell truth. Didn't know that was possible."

Tallis shrugged his shoulders, not quite knowing what to say. He had yet to actually address that with anyone as the students at Hogwarts had kept a polite distance from the topic since he had returned and the other Professors had known better than to question him on it, particularly in the presence of his forbidding Father. Severus simply made it habit to stay within eyesight of his son at nearly all times, thereby eliminating any opportunity they may have had to question him on it.

"What can I get for you?" Milton asked jovially, not at all put off by Tallis' reticence. If he was anything like his Father then it was no wonder he was close mouthed on certain topics.

Tallis handed over his list as did Draco and his Father.

"How have the requests for the Wolfsbane been?" Severus inquired.

"Even higher than before. They all seem to appreciate the 'no questions' policy and we respect each other's privacy. So long as they don't ask me who makes it or how I get it I don't ask them for their names."

"We have another brewer now. Would you be able to use more?" Severus asked, indicating Draco.

"Merlin's beard!" Milton said, looking at the young man in shock. "A wonderful accomplishment, my boy. Are you going to apprentice in Potions?"

Draco shrugged. "I might do."

"Well I can definitely use more. I run out each month and I feel bad turning anyone away. A lot of the regulars are starting to look better now that they've been able to use it for a few months. Does you good to see the effects of the potion so quickly and so thoroughly."

Tallis smiled happily. This had been his plan. Each month his Father had made the potion, gave a dose to Remus and then threw the rest away since it could not be preserved. He had begged his Father to give it to Mr. Jacobs to sell at a cut price to needy werewolves or to give away when need be. After the first month had gone so well and word spread among the underground community of werewolves about the kindly shopkeeper and his anonymous brewers Tallis had decided to brew an additional batch each month out of his own money, sending it on to Mr. Jacobs at no charge even for the ingredients. Draco, when he had heard of their campaign, had agreed to assist as well.

"We need to push on," Severus said. "Please owl the ingredients to the Manor. Have a good holiday."

"You too," Milton said as the men left his store. He looked after his old friend in wonder. He had changed a lot over the last year. Three years ago he would never have stayed in the shop and chatted with him, much less wished him a good holiday. More, three years ago he never would have donated such an expensive and time consuming potion to the destitute werewolves. Having his son at school with him had certainly changed him for the better.

The small group walked from store to store, occasionally buying presents and greeting friends and acquaintances as they saw them. Usually all three would have ignored a large portion of the people they spoke with but they needed to make certain that people would remember them being there.

Lunch came around quickly and they settled gratefully into a booth in small café near Gringott's, meeting Bill after only a few moments wait. As the four finished their meal the cry went up.

Harry Potter was dead.

-

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A/N: moving quick, I know. I'm trying to tie this fic up though. I'm still seeing at least ten more chapters, maybe far more than that, it's hard to say.


	56. Pandemonium

A/N: The results are in. Overwhelmingly, people wanted Voldemort to have a piece of the action. He will _definitely_ be involved somehow. 

I am beginning to feel that life in prison or the Kiss may be too harsh for Petunia and maybe even Dudley. I keep going back and forth between deciding that apathy and inaction are just as bad as the acts themselves that Vernon did and thinking that they are lesser to an extent. We'll just have to see how the trial writes itself for that one (sorry).

And as for the random assassination…hmm…I'm still totally loving this idea. Can't tell you for sure if I will use it though. I also like the idea of an insane asylum housing a totally sane Dumbledore who is treated like a delusional three year old…snort.

We'll have to see. I have to leave _some_ things a surprise!

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Chapter 56 

The chaos was unbelievable. Witches and wizards alternately cried in sorrow for the useless loss of life and screamed in terror as they realized what this would mean for _their_ lives now that their hero was dead and could no longer be entrusted with the impossible job of killing You Know Who. The din was deafening as the panic spread further and further throughout the alley.

Tallis, Bill, Draco and Severus sat in absolute silence.

Witches collapsed in the streets, their packages falling aside with no care for them. Wizards openly sobbed, clutching each other in terror. Children went into hysterics at the terrifying sight of their parents' unmasked grief and terror.

Tears streamed down Bill's cheeks as he took in the turmoil around them. "All this. Harry dies and _this _is the reaction. Look at them. They're fucking terrified."

Tallis reached up and wiped the tears away gently, trying to ignore the pain in his own heart. His family had just killed him.

Bill's depression over their single-mindedness turned to fury. "Serves the fuckers right," Bill growled. How _dare_ they react like this? A boy had just _died_ because they were too blind to protect him and they shoved the blame completely aside onto other shoulders. None of them recognized the fact that they could have saved Harry at any time. They _chose_ not to. "They didn't deserve their hero."

Draco looked around in wonder. "Sweet Merlin. This is bloody insane."

"The poor, sweet boy. How could they murder him?" a woman near them wailed.

"Taken from us so young!" another joined in, clutching each other desperately.

Tallis looked at her dispassionately. He had never met any of them before. They were complete strangers and yet they were mourning his death as if they were the closest of friends.

"I was there! I was there!" a man shouted hysterically. "I saw the coroner's report right before they destroyed the body!"

A shocked murmur went through the crown before they quieted almost as one to hear what the witness had to say. The crowd pushed further into the restaurant as word spread through the street that someone within the café had information about Harry Potter.

"They destroyed his body?" an appalled voice shouted out immediately.

"Yes, almost immediately from what I could gather. Evidently they knew that Harry wished to be cremated from some sort of muggle legal documents and they did so straight away."

"How did they know about it so quickly?" a woman asked.

"I don't know. Seems no one could tell that but it's too late to do anything now. His body was burned and there is nothing left."

"Did you get a copy of the report?" a man yelled out eagerly.

The man waved a fistful of papers high in the air. "Right here! He was declared dead at 11.17 a.m. Beaten near to death it looks like from the descriptions."

"How did he actually die?" a woman called out eagerly, not bothering to hide her interest in the gory details.

"I'm finding it," the man said impatiently as he flipped through the pages.

Tallis turned to his Father, his eyes desperate. "Can we leave, sir?"

Severus felt like an idiot for not pulling his son out of there sooner. His son had called him 'sir'—never a good sign. He dug through his bags frantically for the return portkey, needing that in order to safely transport all four of them and their bags. The crest ring portkeys couldn't handle such a large transportation.

The man continued. "Cuts and bruises over most of his body…numerous broken bones…here…oh Merlin. Someone _raped_ him."

The crown gasped as one.

Tallis turned deathly white. "Sir," he begged, the tears clear in his voice.

Severus finally pulled out the long stirring rod he had made a portkey this morning and held it out. The four wizards touched it just as the man began to elaborate on the findings.

They landed once more in the foyer; Tallis managing to stay on his feet with balance and grace that was completely unnatural for him. He put his hand to his temple for a moment before dropping it limply to his side again as he regained a semblance of control. He looked as if he would break into pieces at any moment. "I believe I will go lay down," he said slowly before turning and walking unsteadily toward his room, swaying dangerously.

The three men watched his retreat in silence.

"I'm an idiot. Why didn't I get the portkey out immediately?" Severus berated himself.

"How dare that man reveal such details about Harry's death?" Draco said angrily, punching the marble banister in a fit of anger. "Whose business is it? Fucking asshole." For once, the Slytherin Prince didn't notice the pain or the reddened knuckles, ignoring his own body and needs completely in favor of his friend's pain.

"Harry's whole life was a spectacle lived before the cameras. It is no wonder that his death was the same," Bill said wearily, still staring down the hallway where Tallis had disappeared.

Severus pulled himself back together, knowing that he needed to wait until later to fall apart. They had a lot to get accomplished and very little time to do it in. "I am going to go call Remus and Poppy. We need to ensure that the body truly was destroyed through muggle cremation and we need to find out where the Dursleys are in custody and when the trial will be."

Remus and Poppy had evidently been waiting together in the Infirmary, expecting the call to come soon. They stepped through to the Manor immediately. "Where to now?" Remus asked.

"I assume by the fact that the body is gone that you were able to get the will to the correct people to destroy the body?" Severus asked.

"Yes. I lucked out and heard about his death within minutes of it happening. I went immediately to the coroner's offices and handed over the documents, explaining that I was a family friend of the deceased and his birth parents and that I knew the deceased's wishes. I corrected their memories to simply remember a nondescript man entering with the wills and nothing more."

"Very good. Bill and Draco should stay here to be with Tallis. He wants to be alone for a few moments right now but I am assuming that will pass soon and he will want Bill. The three of us are going to double check all of the facts to make sure that everything happened according to plan."

"I didn't really think they would do it," Poppy said softly, still in shock. "I didn't think they would kill him. Or if they did, I didn't think it would happen so fast. Oh gods, how Tallis' heart must be breaking."

"We all knew it would come," Severus said softly, not managing to mask his own pain. "I didn't expect it either for a few more days. And even with the preparation, I find myself ill equipped to deal with the idea that the muggle knowingly killed my son. We need to focus though. We don't have much time."

The three left immediately, leaving Bill and Draco to try to comfort Tallis.

Bill stared down the hall, trying to prepare himself for what he knew he would face. When he had made his decision all those years ago to be with Tallis he had thought he had known what would come with the territory. He found himself not even remotely prepared. Every once in a while something like this would happen and it would remind him of just how terribly his lover had been abused.

He had entered the relationship fully aware of the fact that Tallis had been sexually abused and quite certain that he knew everything that would come with the territory. The knowledge that Tallis had been raped and likely bore soul deep scars hadn't scared him off at all. Tallis was worth it. Even at 14, he had been more than worth it. He had been young, yes, but Bill had known even then that the relationship would never be a one off or a throw away relationship. He had known it was for life.

Now _that_ had scared him—knowing that the man he wanted to marry might be older than him in spirit but only fourteen actual years old.

He had held back for as long as he could but finally gave in to his love when he saw it dimly reflected back to him in Tallis' perpetually sad eyes. He knew he had made the right decision when he finally saw a glimmer of real happiness shine back at him, magnifying the love and sending it back freely, even if he was as yet unable to say the words.

Hearing Tallis profess his love for him a few weeks previously had been a truly soul changing experience for Bill. Having always grown up surrounded by love, virtually drowning in it at times, he had never before understood how incredibly important those words were until someone who had never known love before found the courage to utter those words to him. _I love you._ Merlin, they shook him to his very core.

He knew that his lover was aching right now. He could practically feel it in the air. He found himself at a loss for how to fix it but shook himself mentally. If he waited until he felt truly ready to deal with everything then he would never go in the room. He needed to trust his instincts on how to comfort his boyfriend. They had never failed before.

He turned to Draco and nodded his head, indicating that he was as ready as he would ever be. They went into his room quietly, stilling they saw Tallis standing before the large windows that looked over the dead, snow covered garden.

"He really did it," Tallis said blankly without turning around. "He really hated me enough to kill me."

Bill stepped forward slowly, coming to stand next to Tallis but not touching him yet. "We knew this day might come."

Tallis let out a rough laugh. "Doesn't make it any easier, having your relatives kill you."

"No, it doesn't," Bill acknowledged. "You'll never have to go back to them again though. You're free."

Tallis stared out immovably into the distance. "Am I?" he said softly. "Will I ever be free? Even if we remove Dumbledore from power, even if I kill Voldemort, even if no one ever discovers who I am and all that we have hoped and worked for comes to pass, will I ever really be free?"

"Perhaps not as free as many people are," Draco said, stepping up to Tallis' other side. "You'll be free from the fear that someone will hurt you or—"

"Perhaps," Tallis said, cutting him off.

They stood in silence for a long time, each one trying to deal with the events of the afternoon.

"He hated me so much," Tallis whispered, his voice breaking with the repressed ache. "I tried so hard, Bill. He still hated me, didn't he?"

Bill wrapped an arm around his lover's shaking shoulders, knowing he was ready for it now. "There was nothing you could have done, love."

"Maybe if I had tried harder, maybe if I had been better…"

"There was nothing you could do. Vernon is a very sick and twisted man. Nothing you could do could have changed the way he treated you or what he did."

"I wasn't a very good boy. I should have been better. Maybe he would have loved me if only—"

"Hush, love. You did nothing wrong. Your family—your real family—loves you very, very much. They didn't deserve you."

Tallis turned in to Bill's arms, burying his face in his chest. "I'm scared."

"Me too," Bill acknowledged.

Now that this course of events had been started it was impossible to stop them. There was no way to control the train wreck anymore. The trial and the press and the Ministry were all completely out of their control and now, after so many months of careful planning and strategizing, they needed to give away the reigns to someone else and trust that it would all work.

Tallis suddenly reached up, clasping his hands behind Bill's neck and pulling him down to his level. He kissed Bill hungrily, his need and desperation clear.

Bill hesitated only for a moment before allowing his hands to roam lower, gripping the tight arse and lifting Tallis easily. A moan slipped out as Tallis wrapped his legs around his waist and Bill turned quickly to make his way to their bed.

Draco quickly made his way out unnoticed by his friends.

"Love me," Tallis whispered in Bill's ear. "Love me. Make me forget."

Bill didn't bother with an answer, he simply kissed him more deeply, swallowing any more words that his lover may have said. He slowly started to unbutton Tallis' shirt, caressing the beautiful skin with each light touch, setting him on fire.

Tallis moved restlessly under the ministrations, the hands seeming to touch him everywhere at once. Talented fingers brushed against his nipples, tearing a groan from him. The fingers were quickly replaced as Bill's soft lips and tongue gently took over and Bill reached down to divest him of his trousers.

Bill fumbled with the button, desperate to feel his skin. He managed to undo it, finally able to slowly unzip the trousers that were straining over his lover's erection.

Tallis gripped his hair with surprising strength, pulling his mouth back up to claim another brutal kiss. "Please," he begged softly, bucking up against Bill.

Bill no longer had the patience to take off his own clothes and rid himself of them with a quick spell. "I love you Tallis."

Tallis stared deeply into his eyes, settling down for a moment although his body was still taught with desire. "I love you Bill," he said with equal fervor.

A quick spell and the lubricant was in Bill's hands. He looked down at Tallis once more, making certain that this was what he wanted. At Tallis' desperate nod he reached down, gently stroking the tight entrance.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

An exhausted Severus, Poppy and Remus appeared in the library again, greeted by Draco with drinks and a warm fire. "How did it go?" he asked nervously.

"Well. I don't suppose that my son and Bill have come down yet?" Severus asked, only wanting to go through the details once.

"Not yet. Tallis was really shaken up Sev. He kept talking about how he wasn't good enough, hadn't worked hard enough to make his Uncle like him."

Severus cursed violently and began to stand up to go to his son.

Draco's hand on his arm stopped him. "You probably don't want to go in there right now."

Severus sighed and sat back down, not needing any more of an explanation. "Is it too much to hope that you and Bill were able to explain to him that he had no control over it?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Of course we did Sev, we're not idiots. I don't know whether he believed it or not but we tried." He turned to Remus and Poppy. "How bad is it out there?"

"It is insane. I thought that people would get over their initial panic and calm down again. I fear they have only gotten worse. The Dursleys are in custody but their location has not been revealed to anyone for fear of reprisals without a proper trial," Poppy explained.

Remus looked like he had aged ten years since he left. "They published the coroner's report in a late edition of the Prophet," he said hoarsely, his hands still shaking.

He had thought he knew what his godson faced at the muggles but he had not been remotely prepared for what he found in the report. Severus and Poppy were disgusted and disturbed but both of them were already quite familiar with Tallis' medical file and frankly, the report had not surprised them at all.

Remus though, had been blindsided by the report, and the shock had only deepened when he realized that his companions were _not_ shocked.

He had been living in a fantasy world as had most of the people who knew Harry. No one wanted to acknowledge how bad it really was. He felt certain that Ron and Hermione would be equally blindsided even though they knew quite a few details that he himself hadn't known. He had never in his entire life encountered such brutality.

The worst part about it was the sickening appetite the public had for every single horrific detail. He felt his stomach rise again and he battled it back down.

"Are you serious?" Draco asked, his eyebrows shooting up. "That has to be illegal, isn't it?"

"One would think," Severus said waspishly. "Evidently not though, considering that he is of age and has no living family to prevent it."

"The trial will still be closed though, won't it?" Draco asked, terrified for the answer.

"That can't change, regardless of the age of the victim in question. All child abuse trials are strictly closed. We have nothing to fear there."

Draco breathed out a quick sigh of relief. "When is the trial set to begin?"

"Immediately after Christmas," Severus answered. "The first day of the trial is on Monday the 27th."

"May Merlin help us all," Draco said softly.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

"I'm scared I'll be like _him_," Tallis whispered into the warm chest he was laying on.

Bill looked up a bit, surprised and uncertain how to respond in case he had misinterpreted what Tallis was saying. Neither had spoken a word since their proclamations of love and this statement was rather random. Bill didn't want to misinterpret it and hurt his boyfriend.

Tallis elaborated on his own. "I'm scared I'll hurt you…and I'll still like it."

Bill reached a large hand over to lightly stroke Tallis' hair, thinking his response through for a moment. "You'll never be him," he announced with certainty.

Tallis shifted a bit, questioning him silently.

"I trust you implicitly. I know that you will never purposefully harm me," Bill said softly, not bothering to give him the usual platitudes, claiming that he couldn't possibly do such a thing. He knew that such empty words wouldn't comfort Tallis right now. Now, he needed the truth.

"You trust me?" Tallis asked softly.

"With every fiber of my being."

Tallis lay in silence for a moment, thinking back to his conversation with his Father as well as what his lover had just said. "What if I do though? What if I hurt you?"

"Then we'll stop for a while and get some more lube," Bill said reasonably.

"That's it?" Tallis asked, almost incredulous.

"That's it. Sometimes we rush things too much. When we do you tell me and we stop and fix things. We'll do the same when…if you top," he corrected himself, not wanting to put pressure on his younger lover.

Tallis nodded thoughtfully. "I think…I think maybe I would like to," he finally declared, clearly wanting to exorcise some of his demons. With his Uncle safely locked away and the trial inevitable he finally felt a bit more safe to explore that part of his sexuality. He was ready to let go of a little bit more.

Bill moaned softly just thinking about it. After all, he hadn't been able to be on the receiving end for nearly three years now. His hands moved lower, brushing down Tallis' toned back. "Whenever you're ready," he murmured.

Tallis squirmed a bit, getting aroused again. "Not just yet…but soon," he whispered back, leaning in for another kiss.


	57. Christmas Eve

A/N: No good excuse for my wretched delay in posting. My muse ran away and I had some internet problems (don't get me started) and then Thanksgiving happened…all in all, I have had incredibly little time to do any real writing in and then when I _did_ have it I wasn't feeling terribly inspired. 

I will warn you though that my trial scenes are a bit different from what we saw in the movie. I had already written this chapter and the next one before the movie came out and I didn't want to change it, really. I guess it doesn't exactly contradict the film though since it may be assumed that a muggle on trial would receive different treatment than a potential Death Eater…maybe. Anyhow, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

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Chapter 57 

Tallis hummed quietly as he wrapped gifts, occasional lyrics slipping out as he concentrated on tying a bow with the slippery ribbon. He felt like he had been wrapping presents forever.

He grinned at the thought.

He had never had anyone to give presents to until he arrived at Hogwarts and then his list had remained at a rather pathetic two gifts for quite some time. This year though, he had a real family and a real Christmas list. He looked over at the small stack of meticulously wrapped gifts and grinned again.

He couldn't wait for Christmas.

Draco knocked on the door for the third time in ten minutes.

"Can I come in yet?" he whined, not taking well to being locked out of the room.

Tallis laughed. "Yep. All done now," he declared, setting aside the last present.

"Finally," Draco breathed, throwing the door open. "It took you bloody forever! How long does it take to say a few wrapping spells anyway?"

Tallis blushed lightly. "I forgot I could use spells." He paused for a moment, studying his gifts. "I like this way better anyhow," he declared.

Draco nodded his understanding. He might not truly comprehend how much the little things like this mattered to his friend but he knew better than to belittle them in any way. They were important to Tallis and that was enough. "Want some help carrying them into the sitting room?"

"Sure. No, not that one!" he cried, grabbing a small blue box out of Draco's hands and shoving a silver one toward him instead.

"Hmm…is that one mine?" Draco asked, trying to peek behind Tallis' back.

"You'd better not go poking around these Draco."

"Alright, alright. Do you want to go for a fly? We've been cooped up in the house for way too long."

"Let's floo Ron and ask him to come over and play too."

"Then we'll have uneven teams, unless Granger plays too."

"Good luck with that one," Tallis snorted. "Maybe Ron can bring one of his brothers. I wish Bill wasn't working such long hours."

"At least he'll be off a lot after Christmas though," Draco said, alluding to the trial. Bill still had to work some during the trial but he would only be going in for a few hours a day and he could pick the hours himself rather than sticking to a schedule. They really didn't know what to expect in regard to testifying or to how Tallis would end up reacting to everything. He had been incredibly calm since the day that he had "died."

The boys dropped the presents off near the heavily decorated mantle. The house elves had gone all out with their decorations this year since it was the first year since Severus' parents had died that they were not expressly forbidden to decorate. Holly and evergreen covered nearly every surface.

Severus had been going to make the elves scale back their decorations but he had noticed his son's delight in every single inch of decorated space and had withheld his objections. He didn't even object when he noticed his son _helping_ the elves decorate even more.

Tallis threw a handful of floo powder into the fire and called the Burrow.

Molly was in the kitchen with Ginny making some cookies. "Of goodness, you startled me Tallis," she said kindly, wiping her hands on a towel. "Are you looking for Ron, dear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ginny, be a dear and go fetch your brother. Tell him Tallis is in the fire."

Ginny waved to Tallis and ran off to call Ron. She hadn't been able to stay close with Tallis since the change but she knew it was for the best. She still loved him dearly and cared for him as a brother but she knew it was safer to give him some distance right now. Once everything blew over they could be friends again.

Because she did not know about the Chamber of Secrets rooms she could not meet with them there. As far as she knew, her brother only got to see Tallis every once in a while as well. The trio felt bad excluding her but felt that privacy and safety were more important for now, and as much as they trusted her, they were not comfortable including anyone else in their secret plans.

Ron came tumbling down the stairs, thrilled to hear from his friend. He hadn't heard from him since the papers had been published and he and Hermione had decided to give him some space and let him call first. "What's going on, mate?"

"Draco and I were going to play some Quidditch. Want to come?"

"Sure thing. Can Mione come too?" Ron asked immediately.

Tallis looked confused. "Sure. She won't want to play though and it's much too cold for her to just sit outside."

"You know girls. She misses you like mad though and if I have to listen to her natter on about you for too much longer I just may go mad myself."

"Bring her along," Tallis said with a grin. "We were going to ask you to bring one of your brothers along to play some but maybe you shouldn't. We'll probably only play for a short while anyhow, what with Hermione waiting for us."

"Ok. Can you open the floo back up in ten minutes?"

"Sure thing. Are you calling Hermione?"

"Yep. I'll have her floo here and then we'll come over together."

Tallis nodded and closed the connection.

"Well?" Draco asked expectantly.

"He and Mione are coming over in ten minutes."

"Why's Granger coming? I thought she hated Quidditch."

"She does. She wanted to come too though, I guess. At least, that's what Ron said. I don't really understand girls so I leave that department up to him."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Let's go put on some warmer clothes."

The two young men went upstairs to their rooms and grabbed some more layers. Tallis pulled on one of Bill's thickest sweaters, loving the enormous, ratty old thing more than many of the fine clothes his Father had bought for him.

Ron and Hermione stumbled through the fireplace before the boys were even finished dressing yet. Hermione gave Tallis a quick kiss on the cheek before greeting Draco more sedately. "Where are Bill and the Professor?" she asked Tallis.

"Bill's working and Dad wanted some time alone for research and what. I feel bad. I'm always there, bothering him, no doubt."

"Saving him from complete insanity and bastard-ity if you ask me," Ron said.

Draco snorted but was quick to comfort his friend as well. He had no idea that Tallis was worrying about Sev's request for some alone time. "Really Tallis, he didn't mean anything by it. You know he loves working with you in the lab and doing research. He might be working on something for you that he wants to keep a secret or he might just feel the need to work something out on his own for a bit. Don't read more into it than there is."

"You think?"

"Of course, Tallie," Hermione said, linking her arm through his and leading their way outside. "Why don't you boys fly for a bit and then we can have a chat," she said, pushing them further out into the garden and turning to set up a climate barrier over one of the smaller benches. She knew that Tallis would feel better once he flew.

The boys took to the air immediately, flying a few laps around the enormous gardens before pulling out some balls and playing a simple game of keep away.

They played until Ron noticed that Hermione's spell as fading as she shivered on her bench.

"Let's go back down. She's got to be bored and freezing by now," Ron said to the other two.

"How are things going with you two anyway?" Tallis asked as the three young men descended.

"Eh…ok, I guess. Nothing much happening, really. We're still not dating and neither of us really _wants_ to date the other but the thing is neither of us is particularly attracted to anyone else either. I can't quite figure out if this is some sort of slow love thing or if we are only ever meant to be friends and we'll move our separate ways soon. We're just leaving it be for now. The more I try to figure out what's going on the more confusing it gets."

Draco nodded. "I think if you are meant to be together, you'll know it when the time comes. Sometimes you have people in your life that are only ever meant to be best friends, even if they are people you occasionally bed." He shrugged. "I think my mum and Sev might be a bit like that."

Tallis stopped in his tracks, only a few paces away from Hermione. "My dad and your mum are not-dating?" he asked incredulously.

Hermione stood up when she heard this. "Since when?"

Draco shrugged again. "I'm not completely certain that they are, really. I guess it is _possible_ that nothing went on but I know that when I was little they slept in the same bedroom sometimes when my mum and I came to stay. As far as I know though they haven't been together at all, or at least in my presence, for about two or three years."

Tallis shook his head in wonder. "My dad has a not-girlfriend," he breathed in wonder. "Why didn't you tell me earlier when we were talking about my dad dating?"

"They weren't dating so it didn't really occur to me. Sorry."

"Your mum's pretty hot. I'm quite impressed with the Professor," Ron said, grabbing hold of Hermione's hand as they entered the house once more.

"Are you?" a silky voice said, making all of them jump.

Ron turned around wildly, hoping desperately that his fears were unfounded. Unfortunately for him, they were not.

Severus stepped out of the hallway. "Always pleased to impress. Tell me, Mr. Weasley, how have I impressed you this time?"

"Um…um…" Ron stuttered, trying to come up with a suitable lie in time.

Tallis rolled his eyes. "Are you not-dating Lady Malfoy?"

Severus stiffened momentarily before shaking his head. His son asked him the most outrageous questions with absolutely no warning. "I suppose you could have once said that Tallis, but I haven't seen Cissa in quite a few years."

"Why not?" Tallis asked, looking up into his Father's face and trying to find an answer there.

Severus paused for a moment. "This is hardly an appropriate conversation to be having in front of your guests."

"They're practically family!" Tallis argued.

"It is equally inappropriate to be discussing this in front of her son."

"I'm staying out of it," Draco announced with a grin.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I will discuss this with you later, Tallis, if it even bears discussion."

"Alright," Tallis finally acquiesced, realizing how uncomfortable the situation must be for his Father. "Do you mind if Ron and Mione stay to tea?"

"Your friends are always welcome here," Severus said softly before leaving for the library. It still pained him that Tallis felt the need to ask for such things in his own house. If he had been reared in a proper pureblood household with his family then he never would have thought twice about extending such an invitation without seeking permission from his Father.

"Who would have ever thought?" Hermione said pensively. "A regular lothario, your dad."

Tallis laughed softly as he led the way back up to his room. The group sat down near the fire, Tallis immediately claiming the footstool while Draco and Hermione took the chairs and Ron sat on the floor in front of Hermione.

"How are you doing, really?" Hermione said. "The trial begins in three days. Are you ready?"

Tallis shrugged uncomfortably. "As I can be, I guess."

"We've received invitations to attend the proceedings," she said softly. "Ron and I. Molly and Arthur as well."

Tallis finally looked at her, his eyes filled with pain. "Please don't. Please don't go there."

"We won't, mate, if you don't want us there. I mean, we'll have to testify at some point but we won't go to the rest."

"Molly and Arthur too. I just can't bear it."

Hermione paused for a moment, trying to find the proper words. "I don't think they'll be quite as easy to convince, Tallis. Perhaps if you allowed them to attend the initial questionings, apart from when they needed to testify, they might agree to that."

"How does it work again?" Tallis asked, picking at the enormous sweater he was wearing and nervously wrapping a piece of the wool around his finger.

"The first round of questions is done without any truth serums," Draco explained. "They are locked into an area of the floor that encourages them to speak the truth but does not force them to do it the way that Veritaserum does. Then, the Wizenmagut deliberates and decides whether or not the person testifying needs to undergo a second round with Veritaserum.

"Typically, in a case like this, the first round will only be used to check a few facts and the real questions will happen under Veritaserum. When child abuse is involved, they never allow anyone to skip the second round of questions on the off chance that they managed to best the encouragement spells."

"So if I got them to agree to only go to the first round then they wouldn't hear any of the details?" Tallis confirmed.

Hermione nodded. "Of course, a bit will come out in the initial questionings but nothing too detailed or graphic. I think it might be the best way to deal with it. They love you like their own son and it kills them to ignore this trial like that, even if they do know that you are alive and well."

"Not to mention it would look spotty to the media if they weren't seen entering and exiting the Ministry on the trial days," Ron added.

Tallis nodded. "I suppose that isn't too bad. Will you explain it to them, Ron?"

"Sure thing, mate. Don't worry about it, just have a good Christmas."

Tallis grinned, although it looked a bit strained. "I intend to."


	58. Hermione Testifies

A/N: Thank you to everyone's kind (and occasionally pushy) encouragement to keep posting. I have been amazingly stuck on both this and Black Prince recently. I hate to admit it but another story has been lodged in my head and refused to leave. I don't want to start really working on it until I at least have this one done…damn. So anyhow, entirely too much of my time has been taken up thinking about this other story and that coupled with my lack of inspiration has led to the embarrassingly long posting delay. Thanks for sticking with me.

Absolutely no attempt made to use proper court language for either the US or England. I'm lazy and I figured things could be different since if was for Magical Britain not Real World Britain.

Obviously, this does not match up very well with the court scene from the movie. I wrote it before the movie came out and didn't feel inclined to change it too much.

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Chapter 58 

It was the third day of the trial…the day that the Dursleys would finally take the stand. Remus sat in the back of the courtroom anxiously twisting his hat in his hands. Today he would find out some truths he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

The first two days had been…well, not easy but certainly bearable compared to what was to come. He had listened patiently while the coroner gave her report and the staff working in the morgue spoke of the mysterious man who had given them Harry's will. He had listened to Mrs. Figg speak about what she had observed while living near the Dursleys.

Now it was time to face the truth though, and he was scared.

"On behalf of Harry James Potter whose interests are represented by the members of the Wizengamot, we wish to call to the floor Petunia Evans Dursley."

Petunia stood up slowly, visibly shaking. She knew that they were all going to be condemned, it was simply a matter of waiting for the precise sentence.

When she had entered their prison she had heard whispers about the Boy Who Lived. She knew they worshiped the freak.

She walked slowly out to the small area of the floor that had been cordoned off. The guards had told her that it was layered with spells that would prevent her escape and would encourage her to tell the truth, even without truth potions.

Those would come later.

She shuddered as she entered the floor but looked up to the imposing wizards and witches as bravely as she could. She could not make out any faces, merely dark shadows. One of the spells on the floor evidently prevented her from seeing her interrogators. Her defiant look faltered.

"Are you Petunia Evans Dursley?"

"I am."

"Were you the guardian of one Harry James Potter, son of your sister, Lily Evans Potter?"

"I was."

The judges all shifted in their seats, getting ready for the real questions. This was only the first round but it was still very important. It was possible, though unlikely, that she would be able to acquit herself and not need to endure a second round of questioning under the influence of a truth serum.

"Were you aware what Vernon Dursley was abusing your ward?"

Petunia paused. "I was."

"Were you aware that he had raped him?" someone asked, having already been made familiar with the coroner's findings. They as yet had no idea of any extended sexual abuse.

"…I was."

"When did this abuse begin?"

"Vernon took the freak—"

The restless muttering pulled her up short.

"—he took Harry in hand almost from the beginning. The boy cried too much so Vernon needed to deal with him appropriately. I stayed out of it. Best to let him deal with the boy, anyhow. I was busy with my Dudley."

"You willingly allowed your husband to abuse and molest your sister's son because you were too busy?" a faceless witch asked incredulously.

"Well, perhaps not busy. I…What was I to do?" she asked desperately. "Look at that man! How could I possibly interfere? Why would I ever risk something _that_ dangerous for _that boy_?"

"That 'boy' was your nephew, someone that you took in with a vow to treat him as your own."

Petunia stood silent.

"Well madam?" a man asked impatiently.

"A woman would do anything to protect her son," she said weakly. "I did what I had to do to protect my Dudley."

"Some protection. The boy is obese to the point that he is a risk to himself and our reports show him to be a bully and a thug, not to mention unable to achieve even passing marks in his classes without resorting to bribery and threats," someone remarked acidly, paging through the files.

"Don't you see?" she asked them desperately, trying to see their faces. "Don't you understand? I knew what my husband was almost from the first. I found the magazines and I knew…I knew I could never risk having my own children. Two weeks later I discovered I was already pregnant. I had to protect Dudley. I had to save him!"

"Look at what you have turned him in to!"

"Yes…" she faltered. "Yes, he does have a few problems that need to be worked on. Don't you understand though? I had to encourage him to be tough. I had to encourage him to overeat. When it was necessary, I had to force feed the boy myself!" she said hysterically.

"And what exactly did you accomplish by this?"

"What the hell is the point of this?" another wizard muttered, getting impatient.

"I saved him. I saved him from Vernon. I knew if I could just make him big enough, Vernon wouldn't touch him. When Vernon turned to the fr—boy, I knew we were safe. He never wanted Dudley because he had the boy."

"So you willingly and knowingly sacrificed one son for another?"

"That freak is not my son!" Petunia screamed, grasping the rails in front of her.

A wizard leaned in close enough that she could see his face and she drew back in fear at the hatred and malice that was written in his eyes. "When you accepted your sister's son as yours he became your son in all but blood. You not only betrayed your sister's memory and your nephew's trust but you betrayed humanity itself. No human being could possibly be that callous."

Silence filled the courtroom for a few brief moments as everyone calmed down again.

A quiet voice sounded from the end of the long line of wizards and witches. "If you had not sacrificed Harry—"

The other members of the Wizengamot grumbled angrily at her choice of words.

"If you had not sacrificed Harry," she repeated more loudly, "would that creature have turned his attentions on yourself and your son?"

"Yes."

"That doesn't forgive it!" a man disagreed loudly.

"I don't mean to imply that it does in any way," the faceless witch said calmly. "I just wanted to understand what this woman was truly thinking, how it ever became possible for her to give up her child like that."

"I did what I had to do," Petunia said weakly.

"You did what was easy," someone countered.

"What would you have done? Saddled with the freak of a boy and my pedophile husband…I did what I had to do to protect my Dudley. I am a good mother," she finished, her voice shaking in emotion.

The Wizengamot was unmoved by her claims.

"Take her away. We will commence her secondary questioning under Veritaserum tomorrow at ten a.m."

Petunia was led away, still trying to entreat the court for mercy.

The lights were raised in the courtroom again and Remus looked around himself, completely unseeing.

He felt a warm presence next to him and he looked over.

"There, there," Molly said softly. "We'll get through this yet."

"How did he manage to live with them?" he asked her softly, his heart breaking.

Molly set up a quick silencing charm although there were already a plethora of silencing spells on every individual aisle in the courtroom. The Ministry was well aware of how volatile the emotions could be that were brought up in abuse trials and had fitted a courtroom specifically for such situations that allowed each member of the carefully selected and invited audience some measure of privacy. "Remus, dear, maybe you shouldn't be here."

"I have to be," Remus said resolutely. "As his godfather I have a right to be here and I have a duty to represent him, to make sure that justice is served."

Molly paused. "He may not wish for you to be here."

"I am aware of that. Someone needs to be. I know he made you and Arthur promise to leave during the second round of questions. He hasn't yet approached me. Either he has forgotten that the court has granted me permission to be present or else he doesn't mind me hearing it."

"Perhaps you are right. Maybe he needs someone to hear it. I am sure Severus is going mad being kept away from it."

Remus snorted. "The man practically tears every detail out of me the second I arrive. He's barely sleeping anymore since he uses the night hours to hear as much as he can from me and then studying the information I have given him."

Molly nodded sadly and patted his hand once more.

No one was sleeping anymore.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Remus took a deep breath as he braced himself for Hermione's initial questioning. As Harry Potter's best friend it was assumed that she knew quite a bit that was worth testifying about. He knew that this was where the world would really be shaken because this testimony would introduce the Dumbledore factor.

He watched as a pale faced and serious Hermione was led onto the floor. She stood there proudly, looking up into the stands evenly and without fear.

"Are you Hermione Jane Granger?"

"Yes."

"When did you first meet Harry Potter?"

"We met on the Hogwarts Express our first year. We shared a compartment for a bit. When we were sorted into the same house we eventually became fast friends."

"Did Mr. Potter confide in you about his home life?"

Hermione paused for a moment, visibly collecting her thoughts. "He was incredibly hesitant to say anything at all about the Dursleys for quite a long time. We had all seen the signs though and knew that things were not well. An unexpected touch could spark a panic attack. A loud word or raised hand would make him cower. He showered more than anyone else ever did…he very clearly had some issues with his home situation, and very particularly with men."

"When did he tell you the truth?"

Hermione paused once more, knowing that she needed to step lightly here to avoid mentioning the tattoos and their new magic. "In our third year he told us that he needed help defending himself, although he made up a reason for the need. It wasn't until after the first task in the TriWizard Tournament in our fourth year that he told us some of the truth. The evidence was always there though, if we had only looked."

"Why did you not go to an adult when you knew what was going on?"

"We tried," Hermione said firmly, her temper finally beginning to show. "First we approached our Head of House but she brushed us aside and said it was all nonsense. Then we approached Poppy Pomfrey, the school mediwitch. She told us that she had some knowledge of what happened at Harry's home but that she could not reveal it to anyone.

"Ron and I finally turned to his parents in hopes that they could help us. They had already been spelled silent on the matter though and were helpless to do anything. At the request of Harry and in despair of resolving the situation without a media bloodbath, we let it go. We didn't then know how bad it really was."

"You say that someone spelled Arthur and Molly Weasley silent?"

"Yes. Albus Dumbledore placed spells on them and on Poppy Pomfrey to prevent them from speaking of the abuse to anyone."

The court broke into chaos at the mention of Dumbledore's name, silence only returning after the head of the questioning fired sparks in the air to get their attention. "Silence! We will have silence while the witness is still on the floor!" she demanded. Once they were fully quiet again she continued. "Now young lady, why do you say that Albus Dumbledore prevented them from speaking?"

"Because they were still able to reveal to us who cast the spell, although they could not reveal the spell itself so we couldn't undo it."

"This is ludicrous!" a man yelled out.

"Are you so blind to think that he had nothing to do with all of this?" Hermione asked acidly. "The man _personally_ placed Harry in that home. He refused Harry's requests to stay at school each summer. He denied him assistance in protecting himself and even stood in his way when Harry tried to seek his own protection. He prevented Madam Pomfrey from releasing her photographic evidence to the Aurors when Harry first came to Hogwarts. If you believe Dumbledore to be innocent in this then you are either blind or in severe denial."

"Excuse me!" a man interrupted her. "Are you saying that this went on when Mr. Potter was _eleven_?"

Hermione nodded slowly, her anger cooling for a moment. "As far as I can tell it had started a few years before that sir."

"I still don't understand what Dumbledore has to do with this!" a woman yelled.

"Deny it then but you're a fool!" Hermione snapped back. "Call Poppy up here to question her. Look through his medical file. Call Molly and Arthur up here. Damn it! Check them all for evidence of compulsions and you'll see! It is all right there—the evidence is staring you in the face and yet you still you ignore it!"

"These are very serious allegations young lady," a woman said gravely. "You do realize that you are accusing your own Headmaster of what amounts to no less than aiding and abetting child abuse and sexual molestation?"

"Oh yes, I am very aware," Hermione said firmly, still furious with the Wizengamot. "He knew every single thing that happened in that house and he willfully forced Harry back into it at the end of every school year. The man is either insane of more sadistic than Voldemort."

A ripple of unease went through the courtroom at her use of the Dark Lord's name but no one reprimanded her.

"These allegations bear further research," the head of the interrogations announced. "I hereby delay the questioning of Ronald Weasley in favor of questioning the Mediwitch Poppy Pomfrey tomorrow. Are there any objections?"

Although the question had been aimed to the others who sat on the Wizengamot Hermione spoke up. "And what of Dumbledore? Will you leave him to walk free?"

The Wizengamot shifted uncomfortably, each member uncertain as to how to proceed. Finally the head spoke again. "He will be given a containment potion and will be given containment cuffs to bar his use of magic. I will not arrest him based only on one young woman's testimony."

Hermione nodded in satisfaction. At least they recognized that he was a danger.

"This court will recess until nine a.m. tomorrow."


	59. Poppy's Testimony

A/N: Sorry about the whole Wizenmagut/Wizengamot issue in the last chapter. As I said before, I don't have a copy of any of the books here with me…not that that's a very good excuse. That was really pathetic actually. It would have taken me like two seconds to find that out online! Sorry about that, and thanks to those who pointed it out to me. I've gone back and fixed it now. 

Poppy's testimony and a bit of reaction from Harry's "family" in this chapter. Dumbledore in the next one!

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Chapter 59 

There was an air of silent expectation over the courtroom as Poppy Pomfrey approached the floor.

The Wizengamot was almost afraid to hear her testimony.

If what Hermione had claimed was verified then Albus Dumbledore was a greater danger than any of them had ever conceived. It was terrifying to watch a man as powerful as Dumbledore lose his mind and slip into insanity. It had to be insanity—there was simply no other excuse.

The only people who had been permitted in the audience were Remus and a few of the Weasleys and they already knew exactly what she would say but they were still anxious to see how the Wizengamot would take it.

Poppy was carrying a four inch thick file and was followed by an Auror who bore a heavy box for her.

Unlike the others, she had been granted the use of a small table on the floor to assist her in organizing her file and the box of evidence. The Auror set the box on the table and quickly left, locking Poppy into the spelled space.

She took a deep, steadying breath as she set the file down.

"Are you Madam Poppy Pomfrey, Mediwitch at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry?"

"I am."

"When is the first time that you met Harry Potter?"

"I first saw Harry on the day of his first year check in, on the first day of the semester."

"What was your diagnosis at that time?" a portly wizard inquired.

Poppy immediately opened her folder and pulled out the top sheet. "Patient has no muggle medical file. Dangerously malnourished and undersized. Belt marks on back, buttocks and thighs. Bruises over 30 of the body. Second degree burns on left forearm. Two bones broken in right hand. Evidence of repeated rape.'" She paused for a moment and set the paper down. "I also have the photographs I took during that first visit as evidence."

The head of questioning nodded her approval to find the photographs and Poppy opened the box and pulled out the twenty or so pictures she had taken on that day. With a nod of approval from the Auror, she passed them up to the head of the trial.

She gasped audibly when she saw the first picture before passing it to her right with a shaky hand, continuing through the stack slowly. "Why did you not tell anyone?" she asked, her voice shaking in emotion.

"I did," Poppy said firmly, just as irritated by the question as Hermione had been. "I treated Harry and then went immediately to Albus Dumbledore. He insisted that I was exaggerating the problem. When I showed him the pictures he cast a spell over me. I did not recognize it and have been unable to find any mention of it in the books that I have. It felt dark though."

"What exactly did the spell do?" a wizard asked, his eyes still glued to the pictures.

"It prevented me from speaking of this to anyone who did not already know about it."

"You managed to tell us," a woman argued.

"You already knew," Poppy said slowly, wondering how the woman ever made it to the Wizengamot if she was that stupid. "You didn't know the details but you certainly knew enough that I could tell you more."

"Why did he not spell Harry's friends once it became evident that he had told them the truth of his home life?"

"You would have to ask Dumbledore for that answer," Poppy said irritably. "All I can speculate is that he assumed that, as Harry's friends and as children, they would automatically acquiesce to their friend's wishes for privacy rather than finding an adult and telling them the truth. I clearly never spoke of it with Dumbledore though."

The members of the Wizengamot spoke quietly amongst themselves, conferring on what spell might have been used. They finally came to some sort of an agreement and turned back to Poppy.

"We wish to test you for evidence of a compulsion or dark magic. Will you consent to the test?"

"Yes."

An elderly woman stepped down from the bench and to the edge of the floor, ready to perform the spell. She stiffened when she saw the results and then turned back to the Wizengamot in horror. "Madam Pomfrey shows evidence of a dark memory spell. It seems to have twisted some over the years so I cannot properly identify it. It shows evidence of Albus Dumbledore's magical signature."

The Wizengamot again conferred quietly for a few moments before turning again to Poppy.

"Is there anything else that we should know?"

Poppy stood in silence for a moment, her hands resting heavily on the thick file. She finally spoke. "This entire file is filled with the many, many times that I needed to treat Harry. Six of them are for school related injuries, typically gained on the Quidditch pitch. The rest are due to his…family," she ended acidly.

"May we see a sampling of them over the years? We will study them all more closely during the second interrogations. Right now, we just need to see a bit more to conclude this portion of the questioning."

Poppy sorted through the file and pulled out his first appointment report from each year as well as the accompanying photographs.

Upon second thought, she also pulled out the follow up appointments for his sixth year. They needed to know how many appointments it truly took to completely heal him after three months alone with the muggles. She passed them up in silence. The pictures and notes could speak for themselves.

A few members gasped softly as they caught sight of the terrified green eyes staring back at them in the photographs.

"Were you able to heal everything?" someone asked.

Poppy sighed. "I could at least provide moderate healing for all of his injuries. His height was permanently damaged by the under nourishment. I gave him every single growth potion that our Potions Master was capable of brewing to try to spark a growth spurt. Only one worked for him and it only put him at 5'2"…and it was quite clear that was as tall as he would ever be. I was not able to properly heal some of his broken bones because the breaks had been left on their own for too long. He also retained permanent scarring that is completely unique to him. Some things simply cannot be healed with magic that many times."

"What scarring remained?"

Poppy handed up a chart that she had created that highlighted the parts of the body that had scarring, along with descriptions alongside it.

"My gods, we're fools," someone whispered upon seeing the chart.

The head cleared her throat, trying to calm down and return to her witness. "Madam Pomfrey, I am afraid that your evidence points to no other conclusion than that Mr. Potter was indeed abused severely, under the very eye of Dumbledore himself. Are you willing to turn the evidence over to the court to protect for the duration of the trial?"

"You should be aware that I have duplicated every page of his file and every photograph in the box to ensure that no 'accidents' happen to this. There are two sets of copies, both stored in safe places and both with fail safes on them, should something happen to me."

"A wise precaution, madam," the head said. "You need not worry though. We have no desire to erase this evidence to protect Dumbledore. He is not worthy of his positions in our society and we will not assist him in retaining them by destroying evidence."

Poppy nodded and packed the file and box back up, slipping the pages back into their order before passing the file and box directly into the head of questioning's hands.

"Thank you for your testimony today, madam," she said. "Should we have further questions, please make yourself available as needed."

Remus sat back in his seat with a shaky sigh. He hesitantly met Arthur's eyes and noticed that Arthur looked just as shaken as he was.

He slowly stood and shuffled over to their seats and dropped bonelessly next to Arthur. Molly pulled the two men up and pushed them out of the courtroom to floo back to the Burrow. Bill and Charlie followed without word.

They needed to discuss the trial and the Burrow was the best place for it since the kids were at the Grangers for the day. Ginny and Ron had wanted to see a muggle Christmas tree with electric lights.

"You've never seen any of his medical file, have you?" Arthur asked quietly as they all settled down around the table. Molly started some water for tea.

Remus shook his head. "Severus wouldn't let me. I think he was scared that I wouldn't be able to control myself."

The audience had not been able to see any of the pictures that Poppy had shown to the Wizengamot but they could see their reaction to the pictures and had heard Poppy's initial testimony. Neither man was certain they could handle being present for her full testimony under a truth serum. They knew that this was just the tip of it all.

"I've never seen it either. I knew…I mean, rationally, I knew exactly what was happening there. Molly and I tried our hardest to pull him out of their clutches for as long as we could each year when it became clear that we would not be allowed to adopt him. We always had Poppy waiting at the house to assist him. It's just…" his voice faded away as words failed him.

"I am beginning to understand Ron and Hermione better," Remus finally said.

Arthur and Molly looked at him in question.

"I…I had always blamed them a bit…no, not blamed. I don't know. I just found myself irritated at how they kept saying that whenever they thought they understood and comprehended everything that happened to their friend they were always shocked by new revelations, even when they weren't particularly new. I just thought they were either stupid or else bad friends to not understand the full implications."

He paused for a long moment, clearly seeking words.

"I find myself in the same position. I knew. I _knew_ and I'm still at a complete loss when I hear these small details. I don't know if I can handle the full truth."

Molly reached across Arthur and patted his hand lightly. "It is the same for us, dear. We've known the truth for longer than the children have and yet it still hasn't sunk in yet."

"Do you really think they'll condemn Dumbledore?" Charlie asked quietly, pouring himself a cup of tea.

"Hard to say," Bill replied. Tallis had finally decided that he didn't mind if Bill were there for the first round of questions since he already knew everything that would be said anyhow. Bill didn't make it every day but he certainly made it into the courtroom more times than Tallis was aware of. "It will take a lot of will power for them to do it…to look their old hero in the eye and sentence him to Azkaban."

"Can Azkaban hold him?" Remus asked anxiously. "If he's sentenced and then escaped he will take his revenge and I shudder to think of what he is capable of."

"There are other fates, worse than Azkaban," Arthur said quietly.

The others leaned in closely, anxious to hear what he had to say.

"Not now. Perhaps later. We really should wait until after we see how he is received before we speculate as to his fate. We don't want to get out hopes up."

"I am so scared that once they see him they will cave and let him free. Most of the witches and wizards on the Wizengamot grew up hearing tales of Dumbledore's great feats of strength and bravery. Some of them actually witnessed his fight against Grindelwald. It will be difficult for them to set the hero worship aside and sentence him as they would any other man."

"He's going to drag Tallis into this, isn't he?" Bill asked softly.

"I am certain of it," Arthur said. "You should stay home with him tomorrow in case an urgent owl comes calling him to court."

"Or worse," Remus muttered. "Armed Aurors come to arrest him."

"Surely not!" Molly exclaimed.

Remus looked over at her, his face grim. "Do not underestimate the hold that Dumbledore has over those men and women. If we are lucky then they will owl Tallis requesting that he appear in court. If things go against us, they will simply go to collect him themselves."

"I will stay there with him," Bill said. "I'll try to keep him calm."

"Does he know what all has been happening in here?" Charlie asked.

"Sort of. He has no idea who is testifying and when but he is aware that things are going alright so far. He doesn't seem to want to know, which is good. He'd be a nervous wreck if he were obsessing over what exactly Poppy or Hermione or Dumbledore was saying. How are Ron and Hermione doing, mum?"

"Surprisingly well. I think it was a relief for both of them to get this off their chests. Their silence has hurt them more than any of us realized, I think. Can you imagine bearing that burden without the force of a spell to keep you silent? The poor dears, caught in such a wretched position and at such a young age. To be forced to choose between betraying a friend's trust—a friend who had known nothing but betrayal his entire life—or keeping silent and allowing the abuse to continue…" she sighed heavily. "I think it did them both a world of good being able to testify about it."

"Perhaps it will be healing in a way for Tallis too," Arthur said softly.

Bill shrugged. "I don't think it will hurt him at all but honestly, I don't think that testifying will be the thing that suddenly heals him. The biggest step in moving on for him has been the physical things that he has done to change his situation. That was more cleansing for him than spilling the truth. The ability to take charge of the situation, defend himself, change his circumstances…_that_ was what he needed to do to start healing. He needed to know that he could take care of himself and could defend himself."

"He needed to know that he was worthwhile defending," Charlie said softly.

Bill looked over at him for a moment before nodding. Charlie had always had a keen insight into Tallis' mentality, more so than the rest of them usually. Charlie was right—deciding that he was worth the effort to protect was the first step that he needed to take, and it had been a difficult one for someone raised by such creatures as the Dursleys.

"You're right," Bill acknowledged. "Will you come over to the Manor sometime? He misses you and could do with your influence right now."

"Is he very nervous?"

"Not terribly so, just a bit jumpy. You always seem to keep him calm."

"Will the Professor mind?"

Bill smiled. "He'll grumble but he'll secretly be pleased if you keep Tallis happy."

"Severus has changed so much," Molly said with a smile. "It's nice to see those two boys so changed. They needed each other, although neither one would ever admit it."

Bill laughed softly. "You should have seen those two in the first few weeks. Tallis kept asking for advice on how to be a son and Severus complained that he didn't know how to be a proper Father. Severus kept poking around trying to ask questions about my relationship with Tallis without coming across as if he were a concerned Father…the whole thing was hilarious."

Remus laughed as well at the idea of Severus asking for relationship advice. "Thank Merlin the old man revealed their relationship when he did. Even though the tattoos worked and Tallis had successfully defended himself he was by no means ready to be on his own. I shudder to think what would have happened if he had been left alone last summer after the muggle's last attack."

"Severus too. I know he says he was pleased to be done spying but I know it hurt him," Arthur said. "He seemed worried that he would have nothing to offer the Order now that he could no longer spy."

"At least he can be present if his son is called to testify," Remus said. "That should calm him some. It's killing him to be away."

His words brought the small bit of amusement away from the group as they thought about the next few days of the trial. What would the Wizengamot's reaction be to Dumbledore's testimony?


	60. Dumbledore's Trump Card

Chapter 59 

Dumbledore walked confidently out onto the floor. He would have this madness cleared up in moments and everyone would worship him once more and place the blame where it really belonged—on Harry Potter.

He couldn't believe the brat had bested him—_him_! No one bested Albus Dumbledore.

But no, he thought with sudden relief, it didn't really matter because he hadn't actually been bested. He would come out on top, as he always did. Just look at that mess a few years ago with the basilisk. They had practically _begged_ him to return to his position.

He hadn't bothered to put up a fight when the Aurors showed up at Hogwarts bearing the potion that would block his access to his magical core as well as the charmed bracelets that prevented active magic. It was all immaterial, see—he would be set free within a few hours when he could finally expose the bastard boy and his Father.

There was absolutely no way that the Wizengamot would ever side against him. It was simply inconceivable. Most of them had either been fed stories about him as bedtime tales as children or else they had seen him in action when he had slaughtered the last Dark Lord. Either way, they worshiped him. Just as he deserved, really.

Not to mention the simple fact that he was doing this all for them. Well, sort of. It was at least partially for the good of the Wizarding World. Who had the right to question him and what he knew best anyhow?

He looked up as the Wizengamot arrived, feeling perfectly ready for this.

"Are you Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry?"

"I am."

The examiners didn't waste any time with preliminary questions.

"Did you place Harry Potter in the Dursley's care?"

"I did."

"Were you aware of the circumstances in which he lived?"

"I was," Dumbledore said confidently, quite certain that he would be able to get out of this once his whole story was told.

The Wizenmagut sat in stunned silence for a moment, not quite certain how to proceed after that brazen admission. "If you were aware of the abuse then why did you allow Harry to remain in that house?" a woman finally asked.

"Harry Potter has a single purpose in this world: to rid us of Voldemort. To do this he needed to build strength and character. I made sure that he did that."

"Strength and character?" a man sputtered.

Another man's voice took over. "Who are you to decree what is or is not a person's purpose in this world?"

"It has been prophesied. I merely assisted in carrying it out. I am but a tool of Lady Destiny's making."

A few members of the Wizengamot rolled their eyes at that brilliant statement.

The audience bit back laughter as well.

"What exactly has been prophesied?"

"I cannot reveal the precise words but it revealed that Harry Potter is the only person who can possibly kill Voldemort."

This did not shake the Wizengamot as much as Dumbledore had assumed it would. Evidently most of them were not strong believers in destiny.

"But still," a woman argued, "you cannot decide that was to be his _only_ purpose. Perhaps he _could_ have vanquished You Know Who, had he only been given the chance to have a normal and healthy childhood."

An old woman spoke up as well, irritated that Dumbledore had forgotten the primary rule about prophecies and seer magic. "Prophesies are impossible to interpret until they have come to pass—it was the fate of Cassandra and it is the fate of all true seers. Attempting to force a meaning out of a prophecy is madness."

"I wish to return to the matter at hand here," the head examiner suddenly said. "We are not here to argue what may or may not have been a person's fate or purpose or whether or not it is possible to force a prophecy into a specific interpretation. We are here to determine what degree of criminal neglect Dumbledore is accountable for. Tell me, Dumbledore, did you know that the muggle uncle abused Harry?"

"Of course."

She cocked an eyebrow at his cavalier attitude. "And did you know that he raped him?"

"I was not aware of that until the boy arrived at Hogwarts, no."

"Why then, did you not pull him out of the house when you did find out the truth?"

"Because that would ruin all of my careful planning. The boy has a terrifying amount of power. If he was not properly broken then he would become a second Dark Lord. He _needed_ to be abused. He _needed_ to be raped. We should be thanking Vernon Dursley for doing it for us."

"_Thanking_ him?" an old man yelled out incredulously.

"No one _needs_ to be raped," the head examiner said acidly, "and no one _deserves_ it either. You are despicable."

"I am making sure that what needs to get done gets done. You place the security of our world in my hands and then you damn me for protecting it!" Dumbledore protested, finally growing angry.

"And this is the root of the problem, old man," a woman finally said. "No one _placed_ the security of our world in your hands. You are the headmaster of a private boarding school. You are not the Minister of Magic, the Captain of the Aurors or the Head Unspeakable. You are not, in fact, anyone who has any sort of authority over our world apart from determining the class schedules of a bunch of children. The security of our world is in the hands of the Ministry, not the headmaster of a private boarding school, however prestigious it may be. You count yourself far more powerful than you are."

Dumbledore finally realized that things were not going at all as he had planned. He had been aware that there were a few people who were slightly shaky on his defense but he had assumed that they would, like everyone else always did, eventually see the rightness in his ways and agree with him.

"You do not understand though," Dumbledore protested. "I have done this for the boy's own good. He needs the discipline in order to stay on the side of the light. If he does not have it he will turn Dark."

"You continue to refer to him as though he were alive. You _do_ realize that he was murdered over two weeks ago, do you not?" a woman said sarcastically, irritated by the very presence of someone she used to hold in such esteem.

"Someone or something was murdered," Dumbledore agreed amiably, "but Harry Potter is still quite alive."

His eyes twinkled as he pulled out his trump card. He had been waiting eagerly for nearly six months now to unveil it and he was immensely proud of himself for saving it for such an auspicious and note-worthy moment. Pity the press wasn't here.

The Wizengamot broke into chaotic whispers at this news.

The head examiner banged her gavel loudly, bringing them to silence rather easily as they all wanted to hear more from the mad wizard in front of them. "Do you have any evidence to support this, Dumbledore?"

"Of course I do! This summer I revealed to young Harry that his birth Father was not in fact James Potter as he had always believed it to be. His true father is my Potions Master Severus Snape. Harry has been living in disguise with his birth father as Tallis Snape since that day. As you all know, young Snape is alive and well."

A few members of the Wizengamot actually started laughing.

"Harry Potter is the secret love child of _Severus Snape_ and _Lily Potter_?" a man wheezed out between his raucous laughter.

"Really, Dumbledore, you should at least make an attempt at speaking truthfully."

"Harry Potter agreeing to live as an ex-Death Eater's son!"

Dumbledore was starting to get flustered. This was _not_ the reaction he had expected. "But it _is_ the truth! I showed Harry and Severus my memory of Lily confessing her son's true parentage to me. At my advice, she set up a scam marriage with James Potter to offer Harry some form of protection since she was certain that she would die soon after his death. She picked him for his title and his money."

"The Potters were deeply in love. Everyone knew that."

"James Potter loved Lily but she was simply using him as a shield for her son," Dumbledore explained quickly.

"This is ludicrous," someone muttered.

"Are we to listen to an old man's ravings all day?" a man asked, clearly irritated.

"I can show you the memory in which Lily confessed to me!" Dumbledore protested. "I know it cannot count as true evidence but at least allow me to prove myself to you as your colleague!"

"I am ashamed that you would even ask such a thing of us," the head examiner said sternly. "You know that is a completely illegal tactic. Nothing that can influence the members of the Wizengamot strongly in one way or another through such dangerous, imperfect and impartial means is admissible."

"Well then at least bring Tallis Snape in for questioning. That should explain everything! You've seen Harry Potter's medical charts—there is no way for anyone to hide such a thing if it is true."

The examiner sat silently for a moment, thinking over his words. "It will be as you request," she finally said. "Tallis Snape will be called to question two days hence. I sincerely doubt he will do anything beside prove that you are insane, but if that is your wish then so be it."

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Tallis reached his hands out to accept the large golden owl. He patted the owl's soft feathers for a moment before looking down at the letter that he bore.

His breath sped up slightly as he recognized the envelope.

A ministry envelope.

Calling him to court.

Making him testify at his own murder trial.

"What do you have there?" Bill asked absently, sorting through a stack of Quidditch journals his brothers had bought him.

"A summons," Tallis said softly.

Bill's head shot up. He hadn't been expecting it so soon. He had been sure that Dumbledore's testimony would last longer than it had. "When?"

"I haven't opened it yet."

Bill walked over to his side, placing an arm around the slim waist. "Shall we open it together?"

Tallis gave a jerky nod and the two slowly opened the envelope. Tallis breathed a sigh of relief. "Two days. I have two days."

"That's not so bad," Bill said. They had been scared that he would be summoned to appear immediately. Evidently they did not give Dumbledore's claims much credence, although they were willing to check into them for the sake of appearances.

Tallis nodded. "I can do this. Hermione and Ron said the examiners weren't terrible."

"I'm sure you'll do fine. Just remember to breath, stay calm, and have faith in your spellwork and potions. You're safe."


	61. The End of Harry Potter

A/N: This is probably the last (or next to the last) chapter devoted strictly to the trial. We may see snatches of it later but it is going to be over pretty quickly. Frankly, it has gone on longer than I had envisioned since I had rather assumed I would only do one or two chapters on the trial. Oops.

An extra long chapter as a rather pathetic bid for forgiveness for my late posting. The holidays are always insane for me.

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Chapter 61 

Tallis and Severus stood outside the large doors to the courtroom in silence.

Tallis was terrified but he was hiding it admirably.

"Are you ready for this?" Severus asked softly, resting his hand on Tallis' shoulder.

Tallis gave a jerky nod and allowed his Father to open the door so that they could step inside the courtroom.

All eyes turned to him the second the door opened. He was relieved to notice that the audience was in fact quite small. The only people who had been admitted were Poppy, Remus, Hermione and the Weasleys.

He glanced to the right and saw a middle aged man with dark brown hair sitting in a space he could only assume was reserved for Dumbledore's legal counsel. Sitting slightly separately were two more men and a woman, no doubt the Dursleys' legal counsel. They were present in the event that his testimony would affect their clients although it was deemed unlikely that his testimony would affect anyone but Dumbledore, since it was he who had brought Tallis into the trial to begin with after his insane claims.

The trial was proceeding strangely, from a muggle's point of view. What appeared to be one enormous trial was actually four separate trials that were happening simultaneously. No one had to appear at multiple trials to deliver the same testimony since the Wizengamot simply compiled the sum total of the testimonies and evidence before delivering four separate verdicts for Dumbledore and the three Dursleys.

Each person on trial was facing completely different charges as well as different degrees of somewhat similar charges, such as the criminal neglect charge that had been slapped onto each of them.

Tallis didn't quite understand the Wizarding World legal system since it was so radically different from anything he had ever seen or experienced before but all he knew was that this format saved him from having to testify multiple times and so he was grateful for it.

Tallis turned his gaze up to the Wizengamot, able to barely make out their faces from where he stood. He knew that once he stood on the floor he would be unable to see them again. He also knew that they often fired questions off randomly so it was impossible to tell who had asked you the question out of the crowd of faceless shapes. He held back a shudder.

Two Aurors stepped up on either side of him and began to escort him on the long walk down to the floor. Severus slid into a seat next to Bill quickly, his eyes following his son's progress closely.

The door clicked shut after Tallis stepped onto the floor. He looked up to meet the gaze of the Wizengamot.

"Are you Tallis Snape?"

"I am," Tallis said confidently.

"Who are your parents?"

"Miranda Jurow and Severus Snape."

The Wizengamot shifted in place for a moment and conferred quietly.

"Apprentice Snape," the head examiner finally said, obviously uncomfortable with what she was going to ask. "Against my better judgement, my colleagues have requested that we skip the initial questioning and proceed immediately to the second round. This means that you would need to be dosed with a truth serum. It also means that a representative for Headmaster Dumbledore will be present to ask questions. Depending upon our findings, it may even be permissible for the other three counsels to question you as well."

Tallis swallowed convulsively. "If I did that then would I need to return and testify again?"

"We would try as hard as possible to avoid that Apprentice Snape," she said kindly. "You do not have to do this. It is entirely up to you."

Tallis stood quietly for a moment before making up his mind. If he waited until later to give his iron clad testimony under Veritaserum then it would only give Dumbledore more time to spread his gossip and could potentially damage him more. Not to mention, if he waited then he would only give Dumbledore's representative even more time to come up with difficult to answer questions. Best to get it over with.

"I will take the truth serum," Tallis said confidently.

"Very well Mr. Snape," she said, flicking her wand toward the floor.

Tallis looked around himself in amazement as everything changed faster than he could blink. The rails around the square of spelled floor disappeared and in their place a comfortable chair appeared behind him. Only intelligent, really, since Veritaserum often affected one's balance and strength.

He looked back up to the shadowy Wizengamot and blinked in surprise as he realized that he could see them all quite clearly.

The head examiner smiled down at him, understanding the cause for his surprise. "We feel it is only fair to allow someone who is willingly undergoing a truth serum and is not charged with a crime to see who exactly is questioning him."

Tallis nodded his understanding.

He glanced over to the side where the shadowy forms of the jury sat but he still could not make out any faces. It was no doubt for their own protection so that they could retain their anonymity.

He sat down carefully on the chair and looked up sharply as an Auror stepped in closely. He eyed the vial of Veritaserum warily before willingly opening his mouth to accept the three drops.

Once the Auror had stepped away he turned back to the Wizengamot.

"What is your name?"

"Tallis Anthony Snape."

"Are you Harry Potter?"

"No."

"Who are your birth parents?"

"Severus Snape and Miranda Jurow."

"How did your mother die?"

"Voldemort murdered her. He had been chasing her down for quite a while and had entered into hiding. Voldemort found her anyhow."

"Does your Father serve He Who Must Not Be Named?"

"No. He has been a spy for the light since around six months before I was born."

"Is he still?"

"No. Voldemort discovered that he was a spy at the very end of the last school year."

The Wizengamot paused for a moment, seemingly trying to decide what questions to ask next. As far as they were concerned they were finished with this. The boy had said that he was Tallis Snape while under the effects of Veritaserum. Case closed.

They knew that the Legal Wizards for Dumbledore and the Dursleys would not accept that though. "Where did you go to school?"

"Veyle Academy."

"Why did you not attend Hogwarts?"

"My Father did not trust Dumbledore and was scared that if Voldemort knew that he had a son then he would demand my service. He was equally concerned that Dumbledore would push me into being a spy as well if he knew that Voldemort wanted me to be a Death Eater. He didn't want that life for me."

"Are you Harry James Potter?" they repeated, this time careful enough to use the full name.

Unfortunately for them, that didn't have any effect on Tallis.

"No."

That seemed to be enough to satisfy the Head Examiner as she sat back and motioned to Dumbledore's legal counsel to begin his questions. She found the whole thing to be a farce anyway.

He stepped forward, armed with a thick tablet of notes that he had taken from his client in regards to this young man. He was rather inclined to believe the old man to be mad but it was his job to push the witness as hard as he could. Who knew—perhaps the young man really _was_ Harry Potter.

"Have you ever been known by the name Harry Potter?"

Tallis' eye twitched imperceptibly. "No."

The legal wizard sighed. Well, there went his wish for en easy witness. He had hoped to have this whole mess over in a single question. Looks like he was going to have to use the old man's information after all to try to crack him.

"Was Lily Potter your mother?"

"No."

"Was Lily Evans Potter your mother?"

"No." Tallis was insanely grateful that his Father had decided to confide in him some of his more private information about his mother. He knew it had been hard for his Father but it was his salvation to know that his Father had called Lily 'Grace.' Evidently she had been about as graceful as Tallis was, particularly when she had to floo or use a portkey.

"Why did your Father keep your existence a secret for so long?"

"He didn't, really. He merely kept it quiet. I attended Cousin Rianna's school when I turned 13 and did so until last year. The students there knew who I was but they also knew the importance of keeping the information quiet. Voldemort wanted to kill every last Jurow and thought he had done so with the murder of my mother. We did not wish to inform him otherwise."

"Where have you been living?"

"At Snape Manor," Tallis said reasonably.

The Wizengamot stifled laughter.

"Have you lived there your entire life?"

"Yes, aside from the time I have spent at school and now at Hogwarts as an apprentice."

"And where did you go to school?"

"Veyle Academy," Tallis said easily for the second time.

"Have you ever met Vernon, Petunia or Dudley Dursley?"

"Yes," Tallis said. The whispers this sparked were quelled almost immediately. "I saw them briefly when my Father and I returned Harry to their house this summer after we met while shopping."

The Legal Wizard deflated. Damn it. He stifled a deeper sigh. He had been furious when he found out what Dumbledore wanted him to do to this poor boy and so he had tried to avoid it at all costs. He had organized the questions he had been told to ask into levels based on how rudely invasive they were. He needed to move on to the next level. He hated doing it to this kid who seemed to be very nice and was no doubt merely suffering from a crazed man's whims.

"Has Vernon Dursley ever hit you?"

"No."

"Has he ever abused you in any way?"

"No."

The Legal Wizard bit back another sigh. Now on to an even more insane batch of questions. He could only imagine the Wizengamot's reaction when he started in on these.

"Do you have any glamours on right now?"

"No."

"Have you had any on in the past year?"

"Yes," Tallis said, sparking a small rustle of interest in those in the courtroom. "I use one to cover my tattoos upon occasion."

The rustle quieted down as people realized that wasn't terribly interesting or surprising. Definitely no admission that he was truly Harry Potter.

"Why do you have so many tattoos?" The Legal Wizard didn't really understand why he was forced to ask this question. Dumbledore had raved about some sort of tattoo that produced electricity but he stopped listening after a bare moment or two. It was quite clear that the old man was losing it.

"I like tattoos. My Father expressed no objection so long as they were all tastefully done and I agreed to use a glamour to cover them, should he ever ask it of me—which he hasn't. I had no reason to stop getting them."

"Do your tattoos ever electrocute people?"

Tallis opened his mouth to answer when a man from the Wizengamot spoke up.

"I object! What the hell kind of question is that? What does that have to do with proving that this young man is not Harry Potter?"

The Legal Wizard stepped closer to the stand to explain. "My client wished for me to ask some specific questions. I do not entirely understand the purpose of them but I could not, in good faith, refuse to ask them if it was within my power to do so."

"The question will be admitted," the Head Examiner decided. "Please answer the question, Mr. Snape."

"No sir, they do not electrocute people."

The Legal Wizard looked back at his tablet and bit back another sigh. Honestly, how invasive was this going to get? "Why are you so short?" he asked, his voice making it evident that he was humiliated to even ask such a ludicrous question.

"Are we just going to allow him to ask any intimate detail he wishes of young Snape? He took the truth serum willingly, and we betray him by allowing this unnecessary invasion into his private life?" a woman asked indignantly.

"I cite my earlier point. Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to put this specific question to the witness."

The Head Examiner nodded her head for him to continue.

Tallis nodded and began to formulate his answer. "Do you know what happens to children who are too close to potentially toxic potion fumes at too early an age?"

The Legal Wizard shook his head.

Tallis nearly grinned but he bit it back. No one knew if this could do anything because no one would ever believe that any parent would be stupid enough to allow their five year old children to brew poisons. No one, that is, except for a potions master who expected his son to follow in his footsteps who was known to have Dark leanings. The world was always quick to condemn Severus, they might as well capitalize on it.

Tallis had objected to this story at first, citing that he did not wish to paint his Father as a bad parent but his friends and Father had persevered and won that battle. The story would be used.

"Children do not generally begin brewing potions—any potions—until they are eleven. This is done for a reason, as we have discovered. I started brewing potions nearly as soon as I could walk. My Father was a young, single parent attempting to raise a child in secrecy, therefore making it impossible for him to hire competent help. He had to rear me entirely on his own without the consultation of more experienced parents. He taught me and entertained in his lab from infancy on. We can only assume that the potion fumes affected me adversely."

"I see," the Legal Wizard said. Merlin, he felt like an idiot. He stared down at his tablet and realized that he was on the last page…the page that he had been praying that he could avoid. He had no business asking such questions of the young man, especially after he had made it so clear that there was no way that he was Harry Potter.

He turned away from Tallis for a moment, trying to collect himself. He turned back, setting the tablet down on his table. "May I run a medical scan on you to detect any scarring or broken bones?"

"If you feel the need to," Tallis said, making it clear that he wouldn't argue with it but he was not pleased.

These scans essentially revealed your entire medical history of any major traumas or injuries within seconds. In a court setting the information would be revealed to everyone sitting in the room. It was incredibly invasive and highly personal information.

The Legal Wizard said the incantation which brought the results up onto a large screen. Two toes on his left foot had been broke, a minor concussion and a cracked clavicle were the only things that showed up. Nothing that a remotely normal, Quidditch-playing, healthy young man wouldn't have suffered by his 18th birthday.

"Is this farce nearly complete?" a man asked, clearly irritated when it became clear through the scan that there was no way that this could be Harry Potter.

"I am nearly finished," the Legal Wizard said, his throat dry in apprehension. He knew there was little point in asking his last question but Dumbledore had been quite adamant that he ask it. He took in a shaky breath.

Fuck. He was going to have his license to practice Legal Magic revoked. "Have you ever been raped?"

Tallis turned pale, terrified of answering.

The Head Examiner cut in. "That is enough of this! That is a completely inappropriate question. Auror Jones, remove Apprentice Snape from the courtroom immediately while he waits for the Veritaserum to wear off. I will go to the chamber shortly to apply the secrecy spells to Apprentice Snape for his protection."

Tallis gratefully allowed himself to be pulled up and assisted out of the courtroom, even more thankful when he realized that Bill was following him. The Auror helped him to sit at a table in a small, spare room and then turned to force Bill out of the room.

"Please let me sit with him," Bill asked softly. "He's my lover, I just want to take care of him."

The Auror turned to Tallis. "Apprentice Snape? Do you want this man to stay with you?" He was not allowed to truly ask any questions of anyone still under the influence of Veritaserum but he knew that one like this would be safe.

"Yes, please sir," Tallis said, smiling softly at Bill.

The Auror nodded and stepped out of the room, closing and warding the door behind him as he stood guard outside.

Severus, Remus and the Weasleys remained in the courtroom, unable to leave before everything was truly finished.

The Head Examiner was still livid. "How _dare_ you ask such a question of someone who had shown absolutely no signs of confirming Dumbledore's mad claims? Such personal information is privileged and is completely outside the bounds of what is appropriate to ask that young man."

"Both he and his Father are potions masters—you've seen the boy's scores in the Prophet from his NEWTs. It is possible that they have made a way to lie through Veritaserum," the Legal Wizard argued, although his heart was not in it.

"Bloody idiot," a man muttered.

"You can't lie with Veritaserum," anther man said firmly. "There is no potion that would allow it. People have tried to invent such potions for years and no one has even come close."

An elderly woman glared icily at the Legal Wizard. "Even assuming your wild claims were true and that he _had_ created some magnificent potion that allowed him to lie through Veritaserum," she said sarcastically, "would reason not tell you that Apprentice Snape could have lied to you about that as well if he had already lied about the other questions? If he were, in fact, so wonderfully proficient at potions that he had achieved the _impossible_, do you not believe that he would have been able to lie about _that_ too?"

The Head Examiner spoke up again. "You were already quite certain, beyond any doubt, that Apprentice Snape was not and had never been Harry Potter. Beyond the simple fact that he was able to answer each question easily under Veritaserum, you were also provided with the ample evidence of his medical scan. Your last question was inappropriate and malicious to ask of someone who has absolutely no connection to this trial."

Her glare ratcheted up a notch as she continued. "You stand on very shaky ground right now. Another slip such as this and you will be removed from this case and obliviated and in danger of having your license to practice Legal Magic revoked. Am I perfectly clear?"

He nodded, clearly shaken. "Forgive me, madam. I did not mean to offend. I was merely trying to fulfil the request of my client. I will be more careful in future."

"See that you are." She looked around to the other members of the Wizengamot. "Did any of you have any further doubts on this matter?"

As one the shook their heads.

"So be it. Tallis Snape is officially cleared of any charges and is free to leave at his leisure. Since he was willing to undergo the Veritaserum at his initial questioning as a sign of good faith," she said, glaring once more at Dumbledore's Legal Wizard, "he is excused from the restrictions placed upon the other witches and wizards who have testified. He is free to travel as needed and will not be called back to testify again, unless new information should come to light."

Severus exchanged a quick, triumphal glance with Remus and the others before hurrying out to find his son.


	62. Wizard Etiquette

Chapter 62 

Severus eagerly approached the holding room that Bill and Tallis had withdrawn to when Tallis had been dismissed from the trial. The Auror standing guard over the room acknowledged him with a nod and stepped aside for him to enter.

He pushed the door open eagerly, just in time to catch a blushing Tallis button his trousers and a flushed Bill straightening his hair again as he stood up.

Severus rolled his eyes. "You are at the trial of the century and you couldn't wait until you got home?"

Tallis blushed even darker but didn't comment.

"So, what happened after we left?" Bill asked, once again taking a seat at the small table.

"The Head examiner was livid," Severus said as he helped himself to a cup of tea from the side table. "She threatened to strip the Legal Wizard of his right to practice Legal Magic and obliviate him of the entire trial."

Tallis' jaw dropped. "Are you serious? Just for asking me a few questions?"

Severus nearly slammed his cup down on the table, tea slopping over the edge in his haste. "A few questions? Tallis, I don't believe you understand how massively offensive he was."

"Of course I do!" Tallis objected. "Of course I was offended. He had no right, no right at all to ask me some of those things. But that was what we had been expecting, wasn't it? I mean, that's his job…to ask me whatever questions necessary to prove his theory?"

Bill tugged his boyfriend's chair closer to him and slid his arm around his shoulders. "Tallie…I think this must be another difference between muggles and wizards." He paused for a moment, trying to find the proper way to explain it. "Rape is incredibly rare among magical people…not even Voldemort or the Death Eaters endorse raping their victims, regardless of whether they are wizards or muggles."

Tallis stared at him blankly.

"It's just not something that people ask in polite society. Not in bad society either, really," Bill said.

"Hermione asked me…back when we were testing some serums," Tallis pointed out.

"She is a muggle born and while she didn't quite understand the full implications until Ron explained everything to her. She knew that wizards wouldn't really ask such questions but she didn't yet understand the full reason why."

"Well why?"

"You just don't. Its not that we want to push rape under the rugs and pretend it doesn't exist—it _does_ and everyone is aware of that. It is just so rare that it happens and that both the victim and the rapist survive the attack that no one usually lives to press charges…or else there is no one alive to press charges against. We aren't forcibly silencing the victims…there just is never a situation in which they would be able to bring it to light."

Tallis still looked confused.

Severus sighed. "What Bill is trying to explain is that rape is so rare that asking someone of it so casually and in such a public situation—never mind one in which the person was under the influence of a powerful truth serum—would be something akin to asking a muggle if he had ever engaged in necrophilia or something equally distasteful."

Tallis scrunched his nose in distaste. "It's that rare?"

"Most wizards and witches go their entire lifetime without ever meeting a single person who was raped. I understand that it is shockingly common among muggles though."

Tallis nodded absently as he thought about the new information. "So when he asked me if I had been…raped he was accusing me of deviant behavior?"

"No, not at all," Bill reassured him. "Severus used necrophilia as an example for how _rare_ rape is, not for how the victims of rape are viewed. No one would ever dare blame the victim. It is rather the rapists who are viewed with that level of disgust and horror."

"But I still don't understand why it was so horrible from a legal standpoint for him to ask that."

"Rape happens so rarely because witches and wizards' magic reactions are so volatile to such a threat. Sex Magic is an extremely old Magic that we no longer understand. When threatened with such an attack, the victim's magic may turn to the attacker and kill them instantly or give them some fate worse than death. Likewise, the magic may turn inward and kill the victim. Whatever happens, the victim's magic is forever changed," Severus explained.

Bill picked up the explanation. "A wizard's magic and his core are incredibly private topics. Sexual trauma twists both the momentarily available magic of the wizard as well as his magical core. Asking to look more closely at your magical signature and core was rude enough—he saw that with the in depth medical scan," he quickly explained, seeing Tallis' confusion. "Asking you about rape would be essentially demanding to know if your core had always been like that or if it had mutated."

"I have a mutated core?" Tallis asked in horror.

"No, no," Severus said quickly. "Damn it, this isn't coming out right Tallis. He didn't mean mutated as a derogatory word at all, he simply meant that it had changed some. Just know that there are cultural differences between wizards and muggles so great that his asking you that question, even in a courtroom setting, even in a quest for the truth, was about as offensive and inappropriate as asking a muggle in the middle of a fancy dinner party if he enjoyed bestiality."

Tallis nodded but it was clear that he still didn't understand fully. "So what happened after we left though?"

"The Legal Wizard was horrified and apologized profusely. He was utterly humiliated. The Wizengamot was holding a quick meeting to discuss where the trial needs to move after this. Dumbledore's accusations that Harry Potter still lives have clearly been disproved but the accusations that brought him to trial in the first place have not yet been answered."

"What exactly _are_ the accusations?"

"That he not only knew what was happening in the Dursley house but that he endorsed it both directly and indirectly but refusing to offer assistance. In brief—aiding and abetting criminal neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse as well as active reinforcement of the abusive situation by forcing Harry to return to the house every year after he had definitive proof of what was happening. As such, he is considered to be more of an accessory to the abuse than the young Dursley boy who at least has the excuse of being a child, and a rather stupid one at that."

Tallis finally smiled faintly. "No matter how different wizards may be from muggles, there is no way that 'stupidity' can be a valid excuse for anyone."

Severus snorted. "Not stupidity perhaps but the whale will probably receive a lesser sentence because of his youth and his general incompetence."

Tallis shrugged indifferently. He no longer cared what happened to them all, so long as he never had to look at any of them again. "So what happens now?"

"We have to wait for three members of the Wizengamot to come and place the security spells on you."

"Why not on you two also?"

"The benches that we and the jury sit on are already seeped in privacy and security spells. We couldn't reveal anything that happened here even if we tried," Bill explained.

"But doesn't Remus tell Dad some of what happened at the trial?" The older wizards thought that Tallis was completely clueless about that but he was fully aware of what was going on. His father's ever growing irritation and exhaustion were obvious to even the most unobservant of people, and when coupled with his godfather's nightly visits, the meaning was quite clear.

Severus still looked startled. He thought they had been sneaky. He finally sighed and explained the situation.

"As a werewolf he is better able to dodge the spells and work around them. Werewolves' inherent ability to twist spells is one of many reasons that they are so thoroughly distrusted by the Ministry. That is why no one who has any magical creature blood can serve as a member of the jury for any closed trial. It is also why two members of the Wizengamot are missing from this trial. They had to absent themselves in order to guarantee Harry Potter's privacy," Severus explained.

Tallis decided to change the subject. "Classes begin Monday, don't they?"

"Yes. Is there anything else you needed to do over the holiday? We could perhaps chance a visit to Diagon Alley."

"Too risky. I'm fine. I just want to go home and relax a bit more. I can't believe how quickly the hols have passed."

Severus was about to respond when the door opened once more, this time admitting the Head examiner, the older woman who had performed the test on Poppy to determine if any Dark spells had been used on her and an elderly man.

"How are you doing, Apprentice Snape?" the Head examiner asked anxiously. She was fully aware that if the young Apprentice wished to press charges that she herself would stand for trial alongside the Legal Wizard. As the Head of the trial in which the offense had taken place, she was legally and magically bound to protect the witnesses in every way possible. With a family as powerful as the Snape family, she knew that she wouldn't stand a chance and would be stripped of every single title she held, should they choose to pursue the case.

"Well enough," Tallis said with a lopsided smile.

The Head examiner breathed a quick sigh of relief and chanced a glance over at Lord Snape, relieved to note that he looked irritated but not infuriated as she had fully expected. "I am so sorry for what happened. If I had any idea he would attempt such an underhanded attack I would have never allowed him to question you at all. Please accept the Wizengamot's apology."

Tallis nodded, still slightly shocked by the whole thing. Sure, it was unnecessary and irritating that the man had asked him about his sexual history like that but he certainly didn't find it so horrifically offensive that he would have ever asked the entire Wizengamot to apologize to him.

"Lord Snape," the Head examiner said nervously, "I cannot begin to make an appropriate apology. I had no idea that the man would ask such a thing, particularly while your son was under a truth serum. It was completely unheard of. I know it does little to rectify the matter, but I vow to take a firmer hand on examinations in future. I will not allow another witch or wizard to be abused in such a way, particularly after such a demonstration of trust as your son made, by taking the Veritaserum when he was not required to by law. I will work to protect witches and wizards from such a mistake ever happening again."

"See that you do," Severus said icily.

"It is clear to all of us that Headmaster Dumbledore has lost his mind entirely and has unfortunately pulled his Legal Wizard into the mess as well through his outlandish demands. How we all missed his descent into madness is beyond me."

"The Legal Wizard should have known better," Severus snapped. "Mad or not, his duty to his client only extends so far."

"You are right, he should have known better. I have no excuses for him and will make none. He has been reprimanded and will be under a close watch for five years. If he makes another such slip he will be adequately punished."

Severus nodded and his eyes glinted menacingly.

Still pale, she turned back to Tallis. "Has the Veritaserum run its course yet?"

Tallis shrugged and then nodded. "I believe so. I'm not nearly so dizzy now." He hadn't ever been very dizzy, what with the counter effects of the potion he took before the trial to protect himself from the truth serum, but the Wizengamot certainly didn't know that.

"Very well. Do I have you permission to perform the binding spells on you now young man?" the older gentlemen asked, sliding his wand out of his sleeve.

"Yes sir," Tallis said, knowing that his acquiescence was entirely unnecessary. Asking his permission was merely a formality granted him because they evidently respected him. Even if he had said 'no' they would be spelling him to protect the information about the trial. A closed trial was closed for everyone—period. No one escaped the binding spells.

The man quickly performed the requisite spells and turned to leave, along with the two women.

The Head examiner turned back to him. "There's quite a brigade of Weasleys waiting for you outside, Apprentice. Madam Weasley looks quite anxious. It seems that she counts you as one of her own, now. Don't keep her waiting long," she said kindly, smiling one last time before leaving.

"Are you ready to go?" Bill asked.

"Yeah. Let's get out of here," Tallis said, looking around for his cloak.

Severus rolled his eyes and simply helped Tallis into the cloak he had been carrying for a few hours now. Tallis had never noticed when he removed it from his shoulders outside the courtroom. He had been too nervous to do anything more taxing than remain standing.

"Thanks, dad," Tallis said, smiling.

Severus inclined his head and opened the door for the two younger men. They were greeted by the entire Weasley clan and Hermione. Remus was waiting for them at the Burrow. It would have been slightly conspicuous if he had waited with them, having no true claim on Tallis Snape. The Weasleys' presence would go unquestioned given that Tallis had been dating their oldest son for over two years.

Molly rushed forward immediately, barely resisting her urge to throw her arms around him and make sure he was all right. She settled for merely straightening his cloak once more and squeezing his hand quickly. "Ready to go to the Burrow now, dear?"

Tallis looked hesitantly at the family and bit back a sigh. He hated that they knew so much about his life with the Dursleys now. They hadn't heard anything too terrible in the trial yet he was sure, but all the same…it just made him uncomfortable, knowing that they knew so much.

He finally nodded and allowed himself to be led to the fireplace to floo back to the Burrow.

They all tumbled out into the kitchen one by one.

Remus already had tea ready and sat at the large table waiting for them. He gave a shaky smile when he caught sight of Tallis, barely restraining himself from grabbing him and hugging him tightly. "How did it go?" he asked softly.

"Well enough. I think they're a bit scared of dad though."

"As well they should be young man," Molly said, guiding him to a chair and fixing him a cup of tea. "Your father, by rights, could sue them all. They could wind up in Azkaban for allowing that _man_," she spat, "to ask you such a question."

"And he has the power money to completely obliterate anyone who stands in his way," Fred muttered, helping himself to a biscuit.

Tallis looked nervously at his father. "You won't, will you? You wouldn't make us have another trial?"

"They deserve no less," Severus said irritably.

"Well I just won't press charges then," Tallis said firmly.

"It doesn't really matter what you want, Tallie," Hermione said, fixing a plate for him. She knew he likely hadn't eaten at all today, given his nerves before the trial. "As Lord of his family he holds the right to make the decisions in matters such as these."

"What? That's ridiculous! I'm of age now."

Ron shrugged. "It's just the way it is, mate."

Severus sighed. "I will not be pressing charges, although I should. You're right. I do not wish to endure a second trial so hard upon the first."

Tallis nodded, still trying to decide if his father was telling the truth or not about the possibility of a second trial. Surely he wouldn't lie to him about it and press charges after promising to drop the matter.

"Eat up, mate," Ron said, tapping the plate that Hermione had prepared for Tallis to remind him to eat.

Tallis sighed and picked up a sandwich, not even remotely hungry.

"So what did you all find out?" George asked.

"They're quite certain Dumbledore is mad," Tallis said softly. After a brief pause he spoke again, this time almost in a whisper. "Do you ever feel bad for what we are doing?"

"Tallie, love, he _is_ mad. No one who is remotely sane would have ever done what he has done. We just fabricated the situation in which his madness could be exposed," Bill said, watching Tallis closely to see if he understood and agreed.

Charlie stepped in. "Let's go for a walk Tallis."

Tallis looked up, doubt still clear in his eyes. He finally nodded and slipped out of his chair, walking around the table to join Charlie.

The two walked side by side out the door, Tallis nervously toying with his hair while Charlie exuded a sort of serenity and calming influence to help Tallis to listen and think about it rationally.

The group in the kitchen exhaled almost simultaneously. "Thank Merlin for Charlie," Ginny said.

Severus found himself thinking the same thing. In the past few weeks he had come to find himself grateful for the second Weasley boy. He had an amazing influence over Tallis and he had stopped by the Manor a few times to keep him calm throughout all of the excitement. Charlie alone was able to stop his son's descent into self-recrimination that was usually brought on by the Dursleys.

Charlie and Tallis sat side by side on a small bench, Charlie's large frame easily dwarfing the smaller young man's. They sat in silence, just relaxing together for a few moments and getting in sync.

Charlie finally spoke. "You know he's mad, don't you?" he said softly, not so much a question as a statement.

Tallis started to shake his head and stopped himself. "Yes," he said with a sigh. "He must be. I…I can't see any other way…"

"Tallis," he said, stopping the younger man. "What's done is done. This trial isn't about getting revenge; it is about preventing him from hurting anyone else. His list of victims is too long by half. He needed to be stopped."

Tallis nodded slowly.

"You've done well to stop him through the means you have, rather than just killing him. Many would say he deserves no less."

Tallis nodded again.

"You did what you had to do to ensure the safety of your family…to protect Severus."

Tallis let out a shaky breath.

When it got down to it, this was the real reason he had agreed to everything in the first place. He would do whatever it took to protect his father and his family. Yes, he had a sort of abstract concern over the faceless future possible victims of the old Headmaster but his true worry had been whether the old man could still harm his father. He would do what he had to do to protect him.

"You did well today," Charlie finally said, seeing that Tallis had understood and accepted his last words. He had long known and understood his friend's true motivation but he knew that Tallis had not been ready to accept everything until now.

The two young men slipped into silence once more, simply enjoying the comfort of the other's presence without needing to speak.


	63. Making Changes

Chapter 63 

Tallis approached Hogwarts with a deep sigh.

While the Headmaster was no longer hiding within her walls, he still wasn't entirely certain he wanted to be there.

He loved Hogwarts, really he did, he just wasn't ready to face the madness that he knew would have taken over the students and faculty over the recent happenings.

One of the more immediate benefits to the incarceration of the Headmaster was that he could now apparate to Hogsmeade and walk in to Hogwarts rather than taking the long and tedious ride on the Hogwarts Express. He bit back a shudder at the mere thought of the pandemonium that must be sweeping the Express right now as students fought to spread the news and rumors that they had heard on the trial.

Dumbledore had not yet been sentenced. The Wizengamot had not been ready to reveal the old Headmaster's madness to the world yet. The announcement would be any day now.

Either way though, gossip was flowing fast and free. The Headmaster's involvement with the situation was glaringly obvious by now. Everyone knew that he had been taken into custody shortly after Christmas and had not reappeared since then. There weren't too many conclusions one could draw from something like that.

It _was_ big news though, and he really couldn't blame them for wanting to talk about it. The death of the Wizarding world's boy hero and the arrest of the Leader of the Light could create nothing but a furor of gossip. Regardless of the status as a closed trial, gossip abounded, although it was composed nearly entirely of fiction since none of the facts could be released.

Unfortunately, the fiction often came entirely too close to the truth to be comfortable.

He was tired of the whole topic and just wanted to ignore it all now.

"Ready?" his father asked him softly, bringing him back to the present.

He realized that he hadn't moved a step in quite a while.

"Sorry. Just thinking."

Severus smiled and nodded before turning back to the school and starting forward again, this time with Tallis at his side.

"How much longer do you think it will take them to finish the trial?"

"It's hard to say. They might be ready to deliver a sentence on Dumbledore any day now."

"Before the trial is fully over?" Tallis asked incredulously. "That can't be fair."

"Yes, but if he is proven to be completely mad then it won't really matter as his sentence will be the same no matter what is uncovered at this point to add to it. They'll not kill someone who has lost his mind, no matter how heinous his crimes are."

"What will they do then?"

"It'll surely be Bentham's for him."

"Bentham's?"

"The mad house for Wizards. It's the only one in the British Isles. It's something more of a prison than a madhouse as the muggles have."

"Asylum, not mad house," Tallis corrected absentmindedly.

"As you wish. Either way, now that they are certain that he is mad, he will surely end up there."

"Won't he be able to escape?"

"No. Before anyone is incarcerated in Bentham's they are stripped of their power. Permanently. That's why they are so cautious about committing anyone to Bentham's. There is no going back, no deciding that they had wrongly convicted someone."

"That's why they didn't just throw him in there after I testified?"

"Precisely. They are undoubtedly running innumerable tests right now to ensure that their diagnosis is correct before they proceed. They'll not delay the inevitable though, for fear that he will escape before he is neutralized."

Tallis looked up in shock as his father opened the large doors to the castle. He had been so distracted he hadn't noticed that they had arrived. Minerva was waiting for them in the hall.

"I trust your trip went well, gentlemen?"

"As always, Minerva."

"I wish to speak with you for a moment, Severus."

"Of course. Allow me to drop my bags off in our rooms and I will be ready. Have you moved into the Headmaster's office yet?"

She pursed her lips for a moment. "Yes, I have."

Tallis noted that she sounded almost sad, but there was something more there. He decided to leave it to his father to investigate.

He didn't particularly dislike her but he certainly didn't like her either. The woman was almost criminally unobservant. That he had survived in Gryffindor House for _six years_ without her having a clue that he had been abused was nearly incomprehensible, yet he was quite certain that was the case. Minerva might be accused of inattention but she was certainly not someone who supported child abuse, whatever her mentor might say or do.

The two Snapes walked quickly to the dungeon. When they were safely in their rooms Tallis spoke again. "What do you think she wants?"

"We probably need to discuss the shift in positions that must occur with the loss of Dumbledore. Minerva is in line to be Headmistress which will of necessity remove her from her teaching duties as well as her position as Head of Gryffindor. Not to mention we will need a new Deputy Headmaster."

"Who do you think they'll choose for that?"

Severus sighed and rubbed his face for a moment. "I fear she may ask me. There's no way I can do it though."

"It would be nice for Slytherin to have a representative that high in the school."

"Yes, but I have no intention of remaining at Hogwarts past this year."

"But what about my apprenticeship?"

"You can simply return to the Manor a few days a week for work on potions or you may choose to apprentice under the new professor, should he or she be a Master in the field."

"You don't want me to be your Apprentice anymore?" Tallis asked softly.

"Of course I do Tallis," Severus snapped. He had delayed in announcing his intentions to his son for this very reason. He knew that Tallis would misinterpret everything. "Damn it…I loathe teaching. We both know I am a wretched teacher and the position brings me more misery than anything else."

"What about the war? What about Voldemort?"

"I have a feeling that the war will be over before this year is out. I could be wrong, but I don't think so."

"It is coming, isn't it," Tallis said flatly, a statement rather than a question.

Severus nodded. "You are ready for it, I feel certain."

"But we never found anything…no secret weapon or spell or potion. I have nothing."

"As much as I fear sounding like the old man, I believe that you will defeat him through something that is internal to you—an inborn skill or ability that needs no training or special props to bring out. I think that when the time comes, it will essentially be you, alone, facing him. Of course, with me at your side."

"I won't very well be alone then, will I?" Tallis said with a small smile.

"You will be reduced to only what you are without weapons and tricks. Just you and your own power. That will be enough."

Tallis nodded quietly for a moment. That made sense. That was, after all, how he had faced Voldemort the first time. "If the war doesn't end this year though, you will be in danger if you leave Hogwarts."

"I'll be at the Manor. I'll be safe."

"What will you do?"

"I'm not sure. I might work on a potions book. I've been thinking of doing so for many years now but I've never had the time. Perhaps I'll open a store. I'm just not sure. I've never been able to choose my own way in life."

Tallis nodded in understanding. After being pushed into being a Death Eater by his own father, Severus hadn't really been free to choose his own profession. He had wanted to obtain a Mastery in potions, which he was able to do, but he could not safely look at any jobs outside of Hogwarts which limited him to teaching the students or being a caretaker like Filch.

"You'd best hurry to the meeting," Tallis finally reminded him.

Severus left the room quickly, calming when he felt his son raise the wards when he left. The room had incredibly strong wards anyhow, but they had both agreed that they needed to increase their wards when at all possible. They had come too far to be caught unaware now.

He quickly found himself at the gargoyle which was uncharacteristically standing open. Dumbledore had always taken a sort of sadistic pleasure in forcing people to waste time guessing his password. Not exactly a good way to make yourself available to your colleagues and students who were supposed to be able to seek you out for advice and assistance whenever necessary.

After he entered the gargoyle closed behind him. He must be the last one they were waiting for.

"Severus," Minerva greeted him. "Do have a seat."

Severus sat gratefully on the now dark green seat. He had always loathed the bright colors that the Headmaster had insisted on filling his office with. Minerva, it would seem, was much more sedate in her color palate.

Flitwick and Sprout nodded greetings as well. It seemed that they were all a bit depressed over the situation. It _was_ rather humiliating to have your leader and boss proclaimed an insane criminal. It certainly didn't do much for the image of Hogwarts.

It was even more humiliating for Minerva, whose negligence for her own House was exposed by the death of Harry Potter. No decent Head of House would have missed something like that, regardless of how good of an actor the student was.

"I have called you three here today to discuss what we are to do about the changes in positions. Unfortunately, we are faced with a myriad of changes, and as it is the middle of the term it will be nearly impossible to hire anyone new. We must choose a Deputy Headmaster, a Head of House for Gryffindor, and a Transfiguration Professor.

"I have thought long about these positions and feel that it is time to offer the position of Deputy Headmaster to Severus. Slytherin House has long needed someone in this position and I can think of no one I trust more than you, Severus."

"I am afraid I would make a poor choice Minerva. If needs must, then I will, but I will be retiring at the end of this year."

"Who will fill your positions then?" Flitwick asked, startled.

"I don't particularly care," Severus said indifferently.

"Can you not remain here until your son finishes his apprenticeship?"

"It would hardly signify since he is primarily apprenticing under Poppy and not myself. He will be a Healer, not a potions Master," Severus said firmly. He would _not_ allow anyone to change his son's life to suit themselves. Not anymore.

"I see," Minerva said quietly. "Well, I cannot say this is entirely unexpected. I am uncertain where to move from here though."

The small meeting descended into silence for a few moments as they all thought of what to do.

"Sprout," Severus finally said, breaking the silence.

"Pardon me?" Professor Sprout said, quite startled.

"You should be the Deputy."

"I'm not sure, Severus," she said, blushing lightly. She had never thought the honor would be given to her. Hufflepuffs rarely obtained positions of authority of any kind. She had never hoped for it.

Severus rolled his eyes. "You'd be perfect for the position. You keep odd hours for your plants so chances are students could find you awake when Minerva is not available. Not to mention there hasn't been a Hufflepuff as Deputy or as Headmaster for longer than I can remember."

"It would be an honor," she said slowly, "I just wouldn't want to take the position from Filius."

"No, no my dear," he replied cheerfully. "Severus is right. You would be perfect. I'm rather too close to retirement myself. Not this year, but perhaps in a few more."

"Alright," Minerva said, making a quick note on the parchment in front of her. "Moving on. Who should take over as Head of Gryffindor?"

"Remus seems to be the best option," Professor Sprout said immediately.

"For some unknown reason, Lupin does seem to love the brats. Make him be Head of House," Severus agreed.

"For the time being at least, I can fill in for him during the night of the full moon and his recovery time," Minerva said. "Perhaps we can find someone else for next year to assist him instead of me, but for now this will do. What will we do about Transfiguration?"

Once again, her question was met with silence.

"Perhaps Apprentice Snape could pick up a few of the classes. His Transfiguration scores matched yours, if I remember correctly," Filius finally said.

"They did," Severus said quietly. "I am uncertain if this is a good idea though. The boy has enough to worry about with a dual apprenticeship."

"Perhaps he wouldn't mind teaching three years worth of classes. He could drop the classes he currently team teaches with you to help lighten his load," Sprout suggested.

"The team teaching is not as much for my benefit as it is for his. One of the primary ways that one becomes a true Master is through working with the ingredients day in and day out."

"Your son is ahead of the average Apprentice at this point, isn't he?" Minerva asked, quite certain that this was the case. The boy was too brilliant not to be.

"Yes," Severus said slowly. "I suppose we could back off his training for a semester. Only if he agrees to it though."

"Of course," Minerva agreed immediately. "Would it be better if you spoke with him or if I asked him?" she asked, knowing how shy the brilliant young man was.

"I will mention it to him tonight. He might come to you for more information before he agrees, or he might agree outright. He might refuse. I am really uncertain."

"What about the rest of the classes?" Sprout asked.

"I could perhaps retain one or two years," Minerva said. "Preferably the fourth and fifth years. They need to do well on the OWLs but they aren't as time consuming to teach as the upper years are."

"Vector did quite well on her Transfiguration NEWT, if I recall," Severus provided.

"Perhaps she could pick up the first and second years?" Sprout suggested. "It shouldn't be too much extra work. I know it will be more hours than she is used to, but really it will be less than most of us have to put in since her course is only offered to the upper years anyhow."

"That would leave Apprentice Snape with the third years, sixth and seventh years," Filius said.

"Assuming he agrees," Severus warned.

"Very well," Minerva said, making more notes. "I would like for the four of us, and Remus of course, to continue to meet at least every other week until we get the school completely under control. It will be chaos, recovering from all that Albus has done."

She suddenly looked very old, and Severus realized how difficult this must be for her. It must have hurt terribly to see your mentor fall like that. She hadn't seen it coming at all.

She shook herself back into the moment. "Thank you for coming so early. I will announce our decision to the other professors and, assuming they agree to the changes, we will not need to meet again until the third week of January. Does that suit?"

Everyone agreed and quickly left, eager to prepare for the incoming students who would be arriving in less than 24 hours.


	64. Moving On

A/N: Sex in the beginning. Once again, I can't imagine someone reaching chapter 64 of a slash fic and not figuring out what slash is, but I wanted to warn anyhow. 

And I know. I suck at updating. Planning a wedding takes a long time, especially when you are trying to do so from a few states away. And even _more_ especially when the caterer is an absolute git. Damn I want to kick them.

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Chapter 64 

Tallis lay sprawled out on his large bed next to Bill, enjoying the view.

Bill was absolutely perfect.

Sure, people said that all the time about their significant others, but Tallis was quite certain that he was right about this.

Bill not only had the height that Tallis had always wished for himself, but he was also perfectly built. He lacked the nearly overbuilt appearance of Charlie and he was miles away from Ron and the twins' gangliness that they were stuck in while trying to catch up to their bodies as they grew too quickly.

His boyfriend's pale skin had a slight golden glow—nothing resembling a true tan, but very definitely nothing like his Father's sallow paleness.

And as much as he knew Bill hated them, Tallis also delighted in the few golden freckles that he could still see. They faded a bit each year and Tallis prayed that they would never leave entirely. Once when he had been hiding from Dudley and his gang he had overheard a teacher comforting a young girl who had endured her classmates' harsh teasing over her own freckles. The teacher had announced that a girl without freckles was like the sky without stars.

Now Bill was no girl by any means, but Tallis couldn't help but feel that Bill without his freckles would be his own sky without the stars. He would simply not be the same without them.

He leaned over and licked a small cluster of freckles near Bill's nipple.

"Done checking me out?" Bill asked softly, his laughter evident in his voice.

"The view is unparalleled," Tallis murmured, leaning up a bit to reach his other nipple. He finally gave up and slid in between Bill's legs, leaning heavily on Bill's broad chest and rolling his hips gently against Bill.

Bill sucked in a harsh breath.

Tallis stopped his movement and looked down for a moment before reaching out a hesitant hand.

Bill held his breath, uncertain if any reaction of any kind would encourage his skittish lover right now or discourage him.

Tallis lightly ran his hand over Bill's thigh, gently stroking the golden hair. His eyes never strayed from the sight of his hand, seemingly unable to take in what was happening.

Almost of it's own volition, his hand snaked closer, his fingers running lightly through the curls and skipping by Bill's cock to descend lower.

Bill couldn't hold back a moan as he felt Tallis' slim fingers stroke his arse hesitantly.

Tallis nearly jumped at the sound, looking up frantically into Bill's face for confirmation that he was fine. He gave a crooked smile and a small nod before returning to his explorations.

At the tentative entrance of one slim finger, Bill gave up trying to restrain his appreciation and spread his legs wider, thrusting harder into Tallis. Merlin, it had been a long time. He nearly grinned himself as he saw Tallis' nervous smile become a genuine one as Tallis grew more confident, inserting another finger.

"Lube," he said hoarsely, not really wanting to stop but knowing that he would definitely regret it later if he tried this dry.

Tallis looked at him blankly.

"The lube's on the table," he said, gesturing to the side.

Luckily, Tallis didn't get upset over his lack of foresight into handling the basics of anal sex. He just gave another crooked smile and reached out a hand, silently summoning the lube and quickly putting it to use.

Gods, he had been waiting for this for a long time. Bill nearly screamed in delight when he finally felt his lover enter him for the first time.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Tallis hadn't moved from his position on top of Bill. He had collapsed there a few minutes ago and he simply could not bring himself to move. He didn't know how Bill handled not only being on top and topping gorgeously each time, but managing to not crush him at the end. Tallis couldn't move if he wanted to.

"Damn," Bill breathed.

Tallis giggled softly. Then, completely appalled that he had _giggled_ he started to laugh louder.

"Damn," Bill repeated blankly. "Tallie, please don't ever make me wait another three years before you top again."

"That was brilliant," Tallis said as he got his laughter under control before a few more giggles burst out. He couldn't believe how free he felt.

Bill's strong hands moved up to hold Tallis closer, lightly stroking his back. "You ok?"

"Never better."

"Good."

Bill wanted to say more, but at the same time he had no desire to voluntarily bring Tallis' uncle into their bedroom, particularly when Tallis had finally managed to set aside such a major fear. Vernon had been a specter in their love life for as long as he could remember. It seemed that his reign over Tallis' sexuality had finally begun to draw to a close.

Bill was quite certain that this was not the end to all issues, but it was a damn good jump toward the end.

He rolled over onto his side, tucking Tallis into his arm again. They lay there silently for a few moments, both of them lost in thought.

Bill thought back to a conversation he had with Ron and Charlie over the holiday. He could almost feel the truth in it, particularly after Tallis had shared his sorrow and fear about his father leaving his job at Hogwarts. Tallis was terrified he would lose Severus—that Severus would, for some reason, decide that he no longer wanted a son (or worse, no longer wanted _him_ as a son) and would leave him.

His mind drifted back to the short talk with his brothers…

"I've never seen him so happy before," Ron said softly, watching with his brothers from the terrace as Tallis and Severus walked slowly through the dead winter garden below, gathering ingredients that were somehow improved by harvesting them in the freezing temperature. Ron had stopped listening once he understood they were doing something boring involving potions.

"_Either of them," Bill added._

"_It is much easier on Tallis now that he doesn't have to pretend as much anymore. That is what has given him the strength to go through with this trial," Charlie said, sipping his rapidly cooling tea._

"_The strain was getting worse," Ron acknowledged. It felt that each year his friend had to struggle more and more just to keep it together. He was failing miserably at projecting the Gryffindor image that the World expected._

"_The _muggles_ were getting worse," Bill said bitterly._

_Charlie hummed his agreement, not making any comment over which strain had been affecting his friend more. "You know he'll probably never be ready to leave him, don't you?"_

_Bill gave a quick nod, his eyes never wavering from the slim form of his lover down below._

"_What do you mean?" Ron asked._

"_I don't know if Tallis will ever be ready to truly leave Severus—to move out—move away. Even if he does manage it, he'll never want to be far."_

"_You think?" Ron tried to imagine that. All of his older brothers had moved out when they finished Hogwarts. Bill had even moved to Egypt for a time and Charlie was still in Romania. He himself had no desire to move _that _far away, but it had never occurred to him to stay at home with his parents._

_Bill cut in. "There's nothing wrong with it. It's not dependence in any way that seems harmful, it's just…they are so close. They found each other when they both needed it the most, and they bonded both as friends and as family at the same time. It's not that he needs his dad to make decisions for him, it's just that he seems to be soothed and rejuvenated by being in his presence."_

"_It's the constant reminder that not only does he have a family, but that his family loves him," Charlie explained._

_Ron nodded slowly. "I can see that. I guess the Professor does give him something different from the rest of us. And I guess you're right…I can't see Tallis ever willingly moving away like you, Charlie, or like Percy. Even the twins, although they didn't go too far. I can't see him moving even that far away from the Professor." He paused for a moment. "Does that bother you Bill?"_

"_No. How can I grudge him something like that? Severus is a great man. I wouldn't mind living close by him for…well, for the rest of our lives. Or even in the Manor with him for a while."_

"_He _has_ gotten a lot better since he found Tallis," Ron acknowledged._

_The three brothers had drifted back inside shortly thereafter, shelving the topic for the day and possibly forever. As far as Bill was concerned, it didn't really need to be discussed. They would live wherever Tallis would be most comfortable. He was a wizard, after all, and could always apparate or portkey to work if he wanted to work somewhere far away or off of the floo network._

"What are you thinking about?" Tallis asked, pulling him from his reverie as he twisted around in his arms.

"This summer," Bill said with at least partial honesty. "Do you want to live in the Manor again?"

"I…yes, if you don't mind."

"Of course not. I just wanted to know if I should still keep the lease on the flat or if I should let it go."

"Does it bother you?"

Bill snorted. "I could be alone in my flat or I could be in bed with you. Which do you think I'd prefer?"

"No, I mean did you want me to move into the flat with you?"

Bill noticed that Tallis' voice sounded a bit thin and nervous. "No, I think I'd prefer the Manor. Not to mention it has far better defences set up than any flat could."

Tallis breathed a nearly imperceptible sigh of relief. "That's good. I was thinking I might stay in the Manor next school year too."

"You don't have to live here?"

"No. I can choose rooms with either or my masters for free or I can room outside of the school but at my own expense. I stayed here this year because dad was here, but I thought I might not bother next year."

"That would certainly make things easier for me if I didn't have to deal with the anti apparation wards all the time. I hate flooing to work every day."

Tallis smiled. "Good. That's settled then."

"Have you decided what to do about teaching this semester?"

Tallis sighed heavily. "I don't know. I want to outright refuse. Honestly—what does that say about how they see me that they are so willing to overthrow my education so quickly? This is an incredibly important time in my studies and the cavalier way they asked me to toss them aside is almost sickening.

"More though, what does that say about their hopes and expectations for the entire seventh year class that they are willing to have someone a mere _one year _older than them in charge of leading them through their most difficult semester? This isn't like some first year class, where if I mess up a real professor has six years to fix it in. This is these students _last chance_ to learn this in a classroom setting unless they pursue a mastery. I want to tell the Headmistress to fuck off and find these kids a real professor."

"…But…?" Bill prompted.

"You and I both know I'll probably never say that. I have decided though to accept teaching _either_ the third and sixth years _or_ the seventh years. Their choice. I had thought to say I would only teach one class but I knew they would stick me with the seventh years. This way they might opt to give me the third and sixth so I am dealing with two classes worth."

"The seventh years would take less classroom time," Bill pointed out.

"They deserve more than a temporary junior professor during the last year of their schooling. They're preparing for the NEWTs for Merlin's sake!"

"And you just scored as high as their prior professor on your own NEWT. You'd do fine with them. They'd learn a lot from you."

Tallis shrugged. "I guess. I just think they deserve a real professor—a master in his or her field. Not a master-candidate."

"I understand. I can almost guarantee they'll shove you with the seventh years. There's no one else here that scored nearly as high as you."

Tallis' thin shoulders drooped. "I know. I wish I could just refuse, but seeing as I _was_ rather instrumental in creating this whole mess to begin with…"

"You did not create a 'mess' Tallis," Bill said angrily. "If anything you cleaned it up. Don't take blame where it doesn't belong. Remember that you're doing them a favor to accept any of this at all. They could always at least make an effort to hire someone full time—hell, even part time. They didn't bother to place an advert in the papers. It sucks that it's all fallen on McGonicall to pick up the pieces, but I am certain that she can do so without heaping them all onto your shoulders."

Tallis nodded. "I'm going to tell dad tonight. I'm sure that in spite of her assurances to the contrary, I'll be hearing from the Headmistress by breakfast tomorrow. Will you come down to breakfast with me?"

"And risk missing the fireworks? I wouldn't skip breakfast for the world. I can't wait to see you put that woman in her place."

"I'll be nice."

"I'm sure you will be. It's your dad I'm interested in."

Tallis laughed. "Yeah. He's still pissed at the whole thing."

A sudden knock sounded at the door.

"Are you boys decent?" Severus' voice sounded from the hall.

"Erm…just a minute dad."

"Oh…meet me in the lounge later then," Severus said quickly, his blush evident in his voice.

The boys quickly threw on some clothes and Tallis snagged one of Bill's jumpers to pull on over. They hurried into the sitting room and caught sight of Severus pacing anxiously in front of the fire.

"What's happened dad?"

Severus pointed silently to the newspaper.

Bill grabbed it, holding Tallis close as they read it together.

_Dumbledore Sentenced to Bentham's!_

_The Wizengamot made a startling announcement today when they formally declared Albus Dumbledore, former Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, to not only be delusional but to be a dangerous psychopath._

_The announcement came after many weeks of silence as the world has watched the trial for the murder of Harry James Potter, the Boy Who Lived, as closely as possible. Dumbledore, or rather, Inmate 75184 as he will be known for the remainder of his life, was called in to be questioned under oath weeks ago. No one had seen or heard from the man since._

_Evidently, his testimony revealed such horrors that the Wizengamot made the harshest possible ruling on his mental status, deeming him too unstable and dangerous to even release their findings before his sentencing was completed. Dumbledore was stripped of his powers on Friday morning and removed to St. Bentham's Secure Center for the Criminally Insane by mid-afternoon. _

_Officials refused to comment on what 75184 revealed in the course of the trial to merit such a harsh sentence. We can only guess at what role the old man played in the death of our hero. _

_We will continue to keep you updated on the very latest of this trial._

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A/N: Yes, I'll explain more about Bentham's and the whole number thing in the next chapter.


	65. Understanding Bentham's

A/N: I know this is somewhat short but I didn't really have anything else to add yet. I have the rest of the fic mapped out now, it's just a matter of writing it. I'm sorry this is taking me so long!

Thank you all for sticking with me.

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Chapter 65 

Tallis set the paper down slowly and leaned more deeply into Bill's chest.

Severus watched him with barely concealed worry.

"What…why did they stop using his name?" he finally asked quietly.

"St. Bentham's has two sections," Severus explained. "The first is for witches and wizards who have had mental breakdowns and need to recuperate, or who have truly lost their minds but are deemed harmless. Their magic is usually suppressed to prevent them from hurting themselves or others unknowingly, but they proceed with their lives with relatively little change. They can come and go on the grounds as much as they wish. Their lifestyle is quite similar to that of a student boarding at Hogwarts—excellent food, relatively expansive grounds, a great deal of entertainment and stimulating activities.

"The second part of St. Bentham's is rarely spoken of. It is the highest security lockdown in all of Europe and is reserved for violent psychopaths—those who, with or without a magical suppressant, would do severe damage to those around them.

"A series of potions and incantations drain them of their magic which is then fed into the wards themselves to strengthen the wards beyond anything ever seen before. Their own magic is torn from them and becomes, in effect, their own jailer.

"These witches and wizards usually become shells of human beings—worse than those who have endured the Kiss—after a few years. They can constantly feel their magic all around them but they can never access even a drop of it.

"Those who end up in the second section of St. Bentham's by order of the Wizengamot for crimes to society are not only stripped of their magic, they are stripped of their very name. Their crimes are deemed to be so harmful to society that they are removed from society completely—both physically and psychologically. They no longer deserve the right to have a name. They are instead given a number—the number that they will be known as for the rest of their lives."

"What about rehabilitation?" Tallis asked hesitantly. "Are they given their names back when they get better? And their magic?"

Bill and Severus exchanged a quick glance. Bill chose to answer this one. "There is no getting better, love. This step is taken so rarely because it is the point of no return. You cannot separate a wizard from his magic without destroying what is left of his mind."

"How can they do that then?"

Severus winced. His son sounded horrified. "They give such a sentence when they truly feel that there is no cure for these men and women. It is done to protect society from these psychopaths."

Bill stepped back in. Severus was not making this sound any better for Tallis and he could see his lover getting more upset. "Tallie, Dumbledore was completely beyond help. You know that. Deep inside, you must do. Perhaps if he had sought treatment twenty or thirty years ago…perhaps if he had voluntarily gone to the first treatment ward of St. Bentham's he _could_ have been rehabilitated. But he didn't.

"Look at what he did to everyone. Not just to you—look at what he did to Neville, pushing him into an emotionally abusive household to ensure that he never had the self-confidence to excel. Look at what he did to Sirius, claiming that he had no knowledge of who Lily and James' secret keeper was, even though he himself helped to perform the spell. Look at what he did to your dad…"

Bill paused for a moment, knowing he didn't even need to put into words all that Dumbledore had done to hurt Severus. He pushed on once he saw the understanding in his lover's eyes.

"You need to understand Tallis, that a mad wizard is far more dangerous than a muggle could ever be. A wizard's mind is constantly affected by his magic. This is one of the reasons that rape is so extremely dangerous like we explained earlier. Your magic, your body and your mind are all tied together in an incredibly complex and incomprehensible knot that cannot be unraveled or dissolved."

"Think about it this way," Severus interrupted, finally understanding how to make it clear to his son. "You know how when you get really sick you have to go into a magic-dampened room so you don't accidentally hurt someone?"

Tallis nodded slowly.

"This is much the same…except that Dumbledore's mind is _always_ sick. It was sick for so long that it _permanently_ twisted his magic—twisted it beyond repair. His mind and his magic are so intertwined that there was absolutely no hope of treating his mind at this point. His magic would have instinctually prevented it. And even if something _could_ have been done to heal his mind somewhat, his magic is so out of control that, even if he had the presence of mind to use his magic for good, it could come out evil."

"So it's like his magic was sick too?"

Severus breathed a quick sigh of relief. "In a way. There truly was no hope for rehabilitating him. Witches and wizards have tried for centuries to do so and their experiments always end in disaster. Ironically, Grindlewald was one of these failed experiments. He escaped after murdering the Mind-Healers that had been working with him and started a reign of terror nearly equal to Voldemort's today."

"Will people be upset with me? I mean with Harry? …for getting Dumbledore locked up?"

"Why in Merlin's name would they be?" Severus asked, completely confused.

Bill understood. "No Tallie. People rarely question a sentence like that. That harsh of a sentence is extremely rare. I've only ever heard of one person being sentenced to that in my life. We all tend to trust the Wizengamot to know what someone is incapable of rehabilitation. We learned with Grindlewald how dangerous it can be trying to rehabilitate someone who has gone that far."

"Why didn't they just throw him in Azkaban? Or give him the Kiss?"

"When a wizard is mad his magic is extremely unpredictable. No one would ever risk the possibility that someone of Dumbledore's caliber coupled with his psychopathic tendencies might escape from Azkaban," Severus explained quickly. Merlin, he had never thought about his son's potential reaction to such a sentencing. He had personally been relieved.

"And the Kiss? Why wouldn't that work?"

"It is possible that a witch or wizard that was powerful enough and thoroughly insane might be effected differently than the average witch or wizard. We cannot take the risk of what could be, if they were not subdued as expected," Severus explained.

"Why not drain them of the power and then perform the Kiss?"

"Dementors are magical beings. They feel no attraction to muggles or squibs. They would not perform the Kiss on someone who had been drained of their magic," Bill explained.

"And they decided his fate based on the fact that he claimed Harry Potter was still alive? That alone made them decide that he was insane?"

"Hardly," Bill said. "The main issue at hand was his knowing support of the abuse that went on in that house. His claim that Harry Potter still lived was a side issue."

"And they believed me over him based on my testimony?"

"That and the testimony of twelve of your classmates," Bill explained. "Ten of them were those who had taken the potion. Two had the memories implanted. All proved, beyond a doubt, that Tallis Snape attended Veyle Academy. After the tenth one, the Wizengamot decided to dismiss the other students. There was no need to hear even more confirmations that you had attended the Academy."

"How much longer do you think before they'll announce the sentences for the Dursleys?"

Bill shifted nervously this time. He had been attending the trial nearly every day. Tallis knew that he was doing it, but they didn't really talk about the trial very often. "Soon. Perhaps another week. There are only two more days of questioning, then the Wizengamot will break for deliberations. I'm not sure how long it will take for them to come to a consensus."

"They will hand out each sentence as it is finalized. They may announce the boy's sentence on Thursday and take until the following Friday to sentence the other muggles," Severus explained.

Tallis nodded his understanding but did not respond. After a few minutes of silence, he suddenly decided to announce his plans for the next semester. "I won't teach all three classes."

Severus looked up blankly for a moment before his mind could catch up and make the intellectual leap that his son's mind had obviously undergone during the silence. He simply raised an eyebrow in question.

Tallis sighed. "I'll teach either the seventh years or the third and sixth. Not all three. McGonigall can decide. Or the heads of house…whoever makes that kind of decision."

Severus nodded, pleased with his son's decision. He was giving more than he wanted to see him give, but at least he had drawn a line firmly and would not be taken advantage of so completely. "I will alert Minerva to your intentions."

"We might just have to cancel some classes around the full moon," Tallis said. "Make sure she understands that. All of us are picking up Remus' extra classes during those days. We won't be able to teach our regular classes and these added transfig classes _and_ teach his…not to mention that his own load has surely increased with the breakup of McGonigall's old classes."

Severus winced. He did _not_ look forward to the next full moon. It would be hell.


	66. Breakfast with the Headmistress

Chapter 66 

Tallis sat down in his traditional seat next to his Father at the head table. Because Bill had already left for work, he was left sitting at the end of the table, with his Father to his left.

As much as it still amazed the other professors, it seemed that Severus had managed to raise a son even more antisocial than himself.

The seating arrangements had been created on that first day, and the only person who _ever_ sat on Tallis' other side was Bill.

Until today.

Tallis had no sooner sat down than he felt a brush of wool against his arm. Looking up in shock he saw Minerva McGonicall sit down in a freshly conjured chair.

He turned resolutely back to his food, although it had turned to ash in his mouth.

He refused to be the first one to speak.

She finally sighed. "This will be a difficult semester, Apprentice Snape."

He nodded briskly.

Her lips thinned a bit more. "The Headm…the prisoner has been transferred to St. Bentham's and the students will be in an uproar."

He didn't even bother to nod this time. Honestly, why did people always feel the need to begin conversations with inane chatter?

"We will all have our hands full explaining this situation to the students and the parents alike. Our students' world has been severely tested by these events."

"Do you deny that justice has been done?" he asked softly, his disdain for Dumbledore clear. After giving the sentence a tiny bit of thought he had come to the conclusion that _no_ punishment was too severe for the man who had hurt his Father so severely. His initial shock wore off and he found himself vindictively pleased with the sentence.

"No, no, of course not," she said hurriedly, tripping over her words. "What was done was no less than what he deserved. He betrayed us all by what he did. But you must understand, Tallis…" her words faded away as she saw his cold glare. "—Apprentice Snape. You must understand. We will all be pushed to the limit this semester. We will all be setting aside our own desires in order to keep this school together. You must reconsider."

"No," he said softly but firmly.

Severus smirked openly.

"We need you Apprentice—"

"No you do not. You _need_ to accept the situation. You _need_ to suck it up and acknowledge to the world that _that man_ is gone and has left the school in a mess. You _need_ to put a bloody advert in the papers for the new positions. You _need _to stop trying to make this all look better than it is."

"I am not trying to make this look better—"

"Yes, you are," he said, quietly contradicting her. "By refusing to publicly seek a replacement for the positions that have been vacated you are in effect refusing to publicly acknowledge what has happened. The world will be allowed to continue as it has done, believing that those who work at Hogwarts can continue to fix everything and everyone without outside assistance. You continue to strengthen the illusion that that man" he spat out disdainfully, "dedicated his life to building—the illusion that those within the hallowed halls of the Headmaster's office are all knowing and all powerful.

"We are _not_ capable of fixing this on our own. We cannot do everything and fix everyone and be everywhere at once. We need help. We cannot stretch ourselves that thin. It is a disservice to ourselves and it is a disservice to the students."

Minerva's shoulders hunched in as she seemed to almost crumble in on herself before she recalled where she was and straightened back up. "I understand, Apprentice. Perhaps I was too hasty in trying to cover the positions by those already employed here. You must understand though—we are at war. I cannot in good conscience hire a virtual unknown to enter this school and teach our students."

"Then I suggest that you screen the applicants with more care to their references than your predecessor did, madam. Check their bloody arms for Merlin's sake! You are right—we _are_ at war. It's about damn time someone realized that."

Minerva started to speak again but she was interrupted by the elder Snape.

"I suggest you stop irritating my son. He has agreed to assist by teaching one of your classes—he has agreed in spite of his rather obvious objections to the entire situation. I recommend that you graciously accept his rather generous offer, put some deep consideration into his recommendations, and leave him the bloody hell alone."

Remus, who had taken up post on the other side of Severus, snorted into his tea.

Minerva looked warily between Severus and his son. "Forgive me for disturbing your breakfast, Apprentice. Until I am able to provide the students with a full time Transfiguration professor to attend to their lessons, would you please teach the seventh years?"

Tallis nodded curtly and turned back to his forgotten breakfast. He thought better of his sullen response after a brief moment and sought to temper it slightly, although he did not look back up. "Of course, Headmistress. Thank you for trusting me with the students."

She gave him a shaky smile, recognizing his words for an apology for his harshness in dealing with her although not for the words themselves. They both knew that they needed to be said.

"Well done Tallis," Remus said under his breath.

Tallis nodded back, a hint of a smile teasing his lips. "You know you wanted to say it too."

"I'm not a Snape though. I don't have the excuse of being a surly, antisocial bastard to defend myself with."

Severus nearly laughed but hid it before the students could be too alarmed.

"I'm not surly!" Tallis protested.

Remus wanted to laugh in his face but decided to take the more politic route. "Perhaps not as such, but to those who do not know you, you certainly do appear to be incredibly adverse to any social interaction beside with family and close friends and you tend to snap and leave quickly if someone approaches you without your previous consent. I'm sorry cub, but that adds up to surly."

Tallis grumbled incoherently as he stirred another cube of sugar into his tea to mollify himself. "The students like me well enough."

"You are quite different around the students than you are with your colleagues, Tallis," Severus explained. "Not to mention you have still established very clear barriers that none dare cross. They all recall quite clearly what happens to students whose attentions irritate you."

Tallis flushed lightly as he remembered sending such a strong pulse of what amounted to electric shock through the seventh year. If he hadn't been so startled he probably wouldn't have reacted quite so severely. He couldn't bring himself to care though. "Served the brat right," he muttered. "Honestly, accosting a member of the faculty."

"Note that neither of us is disagreeing with you cub," Remus said, amber eyes sparkling. "Just pointing out the obvious for you."

Tallis bit back his retort as he noticed that the morning post had come in. The students seemed to grow even louder than usual in volume as they huddled around copies of the Daily Prophet.

Severus calmly held his arm out for his owl and accepted their copy of the paper, spreading it out in front of them so they could all see.

_Muggle Woman and Boy Sentenced!_

_Dursley still awaiting justice!_

_In a move that startled many in it's leniency, the Wizengamot announced at 6.23 a.m. that the youngest Dursley would simply be obliviated of his entire past and sent into protective custody in an undisclosed location. _

_Members of the Wizengamot assured Prophet reporters that this would in no way be an easy relocation for the muggle, as they were making no effort to fill in the void of the obliviate with anything else—at all. The boy will be left as a completely blank slate, with no practical memory of anything. _

_One member explains: "The boy will have next to nothing. Little money, no skills with which to obtain a job of any sort, no education to aid him in a future. If he wants a proper future then he will have to build it from the base. We will provide him with a place to live for two years. After that, he's on his own."_

_Another expounded: "There was nothing but hate and cruelty in the boy. It was only a matter of time before he performed some heinous crimes of his own—"_

_A third cut it: "What he had done was more than heinous!"_

_Our second informant explained that the boy was certainly far from innocent but that he was a child during the time questioned. "When we removed all of the prejudice and hatred that the parents poured into the child we were left with nothing. It is now up to Mr. Dursley to do something with his life. We have given him a chance. Perhaps he will make something of it."_

_In a move of far less leniency, although still far kinder than most had anticipated, the Wizengamot voted unanimously to place the woman in a moderate-security cell in Azkaban for forty years._

_She was left with no chance for parle and no chance for a lessening of security for a minimum of twenty years. If she has proven herself to be suitably reformed after twenty years, she may be moved to a lower security ward in Azkaban._

_Both muggles have already been moved to their new situations. The remaining muggle remains to be sentenced._

_We at the Prophet can only guess as to what crimes the man is guilty of that the Wizengamot is taking such an uncharacteristically long time to determine his fate. We can only pray that he is handed a just sentence for whatever hell he put our Savior through during his short lifetime._

Tallis snorted inelegantly before folding the paper up.

Severus looked at him closely but knew that now was not the time to have any sort of in depth discussion about the sentencing. "Are you prepared for your first years?" he said with an unusual solicitousness.

"Yes," Tallis said, knowing the question his Father had really wanted to ask him. Truthfully, he was all right with the sentences. They were harsh but rather fair sentences. He found himself almost glad that Dudley would have a chance to make something of himself. Granted, the situation would be incredibly difficult, but if there was anything good in his cousin, now was the chance for it to surface.

He was glad that he had a class to teach right now though, to stop him from over analyzing the sentences. He knew that he felt fine about them now, but that could soon change. Just look at how his emotions had fluctuated over Dumbledore's sentence!

"Shall we?" Severus asked, motioning toward the door. It was nearly time for classes to begin.

Tallis nodded and stood silently, falling into step alongside his Father.

"Do you want me to sit in on your class today?" Severus asked, worried that the first years would be too excited over the morning's article to concentrate.

"No, I will be fine. You have a bit more grading to do for the pre-holiday essays. We don't want to be backlogged before we are loaded down with the holiday ones. Honestly, did you have to assign such bloody long essays to all of the years?"

Severus smirked. "Must keep them on their toes." He nodded confidently to his son once more before proceeding to their office to finish the aforementioned essays.

SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD

Draco hovered outside of the potions classroom, eager to speak with his friend but uncertain if Tallis was ready to speak about the sentencing of his aunt and cousin.

"Are you planning on coming in?" an amused, silky voice said, suddenly shaking Draco out of his thoughts.

"I'm just giving you time to collect your thoughts," Draco said haughtily, ignoring the fact that he had been the one to seek Tallis out for this conversation.

"Of course," Tallis responded dryly. "Shall we go to the office?"

Draco nodded quickly and made his way to the connecting door in the back of the classroom. He breathed a quick sigh of relief when he realized that Severus was no longer in there. He knew that his godfather did not want him to speak to Tallis about the trial without Tallis being the one to bring it up.

He, however, was of the opinion that if Tallis was left to his own designs they might _never_ speak of it again. And, moving on or not, Tallis needed to speak of it, if only to firmly shut that door from his past.

"Well?" Tallis said impatiently, startling Draco once more. "Merlin you're jumpy today. What's going on?"

"Nothing really. Interesting article in the Prophet today."

Tallis rolled his eyes.

"Went a bit light on the sentences," Draco finally said when it was clear that Tallis was not intending to respond.

"Light?" Tallis sad incredulously. "Light? Perhaps they cut Dudley a bit of slack but it is so slight as to be unnoticeable. Can you even imagine finding yourself in a foreign country with no memories of…of _anything_?" He sighed heavily. "I guess in some ways I'm pleased with his sentence though. He'll have a chance to fix himself. It will be hard—it'll be damn near hell every step of the way but I'm sure he can do it."

Draco snorted loudly. He was just as certain that the fat muggle would find his way back into drinking and drugs within a week.

"And Petunia's sentence was downright cruel."

"Forty years is hardly cruel, Tallis."

"Forty years to a middle aged muggle is. Draco, she'll never survive to see the outside of that cell. Even without those conditions, not all muggles can live until they are over 90."

"What? That's insane!"

"Muggles don't live as long as us, Draco. That's what was so cruel about the sentence—they made it look kind on the outside to most of the wizarding world but in reality, her sentence is probably no worse than Vernon's will be."

"You think the muggle will get a life sentence?"

"Yes. From what I understand it would be very out of the norm for the Wizengamot to sentence a muggle to the Kiss."

Draco sat in silence for a moment. "So they essentially gave her the same sentence as they did him?"

Tallis nodded wearily.

"Good. She was a two faced, manipulative, slimy bitch who all but sold Harry to her own husband."

"Did she have a choice?" Tallis asked quietly.

"A choice? She had a choice every goddamned day in that house. Every day she woke up and thought 'no, I'll not stand up and be a women and mother. I'll throw my nephew to the wolves so I don't have to actually grow a backbone myself.'"

"You make it sound so easy. People who haven't ever lived with someone like Vernon always do."

"And you make it sound damn near impossible!" Draco snapped. His anger fled him almost instantly. "Look…you're right. It isn't as easy as I made it sound. I still think she deserved it. She all but tied Harry down for him to use. As a grown woman and self sufficient adult, she had a moral responsibility to stand up for what was right."

Tallis sighed heavily.

"I know you don't agree with me right now, but someday you'll see the rightness in what I am saying."

Tallis nodded minutely. "Someday I might," he finally acknowledged.

Draco nodded briskly in satisfaction. "What would you have sentenced her to?"

After a long pause, Tallis finally responded. "I don't know. A lot of counseling. A lot of medication. Perhaps a bit of time in a detainment center."

Draco raised a golden eyebrow.

"Ok, a lot of time in a detainment center. I guess I just find it cruel that she has to be in a wizard prison. There's no way for her to fight it, you know? No way to escape the effects of the dementors, no hope of any peace."

Draco huffed quietly. "Would you rather she be in a muggle prison where she would always be in danger of vengeful witches and wizards trying to track her down and hurt her? The wizarding world will not forget this Tallis. If she is in Azkaban at least she has some sort of protection against them. You know how difficult it is to get into that prison. They'll keep the public far away from her."

Tallis' shoulders drooped. "You're right. She wouldn't last a week in a muggle prison. Anyone could get to her at damn near any time."

"Good," Draco said with a grin. "So you're done feeling sorry about this?"

Tallis glared at him but it had no effect on the boy who had grown up with his Uncle Severus' even more potent glares. He finally relented. "I guess you're right."

"Finally. You should know I'm always right. I am a Malfoy after all."

Tallis laughed at the ridiculous bravado his friend was putting on. He knew that as much as it was an act there was also a very real tinge to it. Draco's occasional arrogance was delightful.

"Let's go to lunch. I'm starved. You'll be eating with me at the Slytherin table, won't you?"

"Of course, Draco," Tallis said, smiling still.

"Good. I can't handle another meal with those idiots. I can't wait 'til I graduate."

"Soon, Draco. Soon."


	67. Voldemort Moves Again

A/N: Italics are the vision. 

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Chapter 67 

Tallis rounded the corner, surprised out of his thoughts by the unexpected sight of Ron and Hermione.

"What are you two still doing here?"

"Study group, remember?" Hermione asked softly. They had already scouted the area for eavesdropping students, but you could never be too careful. "Besides, we haven't been able to see you properly in weeks."

Tallis smiled. "I'm sorry. This whole teaching transfig thing has really thrown me. I hope the Headmistress finds a full time professor soon."

"You did great with your first class, mate," Ron announced. At Tallis' look of disbelief he pushed on. "No, really. I know it was just the Gryffs and Ravenclaws but we all loved it. I'm sure you'll not have any problems with the other classes. They Slytherins love you and Hufflepuffs are never rude to anyone."

"We'll see," Tallis said dryly. He was still irritated that he was teaching them in the first place, but he had to admit the class had seemed to go well. Even still, McGonigall couldn't hire a replacement any too soon, as far as he was concerned.

"With everything going on, has Bill been able to work on his animagus form at all? I know in November he said he was close," Hermione asked, linking her arm loosely through Tallis'.

"He finally finished it last week. Wait 'til you see. He's absolutely gorgeous."

"Any hints, mate?"

"It's his to show you, I don't want to ruin it for him. He'll show you soon enough, I'm sure. And get this—my dad has started work on it too! He thinks he's being sneaky about it but I caught him reading some books on it late at night when he thinks I'm asleep. And more than one morning I have caught him meditating on his form."

"What do you think he'll be?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe something in the cat family, like me. Maybe not. It's hard to say."

"Families don't always take after each other, Tallis," Hermione said factually. "I am quite certain that Ginny will be a bird of some sort, and that is not even remotely related to canines. You can never tell though."

"I bet he'll finish soon," Tallis said.

"Really?" Ron asked, incredulous. They had worked on their transformations for well over a year.

"Yes. He's not only a fully developed wizard completely grown into his powers but he also has the advantage of incredible occlumency and meditation skills."

"Think about it Ron," Hermione cut in. "We were kids trying to force developing bodies and growing magic into a completely different form—all at the same time that we were struggling with both in our _natural_ forms. Of course it took us forever."

"I guess. Not fair, really."

Hermione and Tallis rolled their eyes at the moody red head.

The trio quietly made their way to the Chamber. They were a bit wary about meeting in the early evening like this, but their previous night time meetings were simply too difficult now that Ron and Hermione needed to be studying for the NEWTs. While they called their meetings 'study group' in truth they spent most of the time chatting and catching up.

As they entered the hallway where Myrtle's loo resided, Tallis let out a low gasp and stopped suddenly.

"Are you ok, mate?"

Tallis didn't respond. All color fled from his face and he stumbled, nearly dropping to the floor. His hand started to move to his forehead but he stopped himself.

Hermione noted the aborted movement and paled.

"Pick him up Ronald. We have to get him inside."

Ron looked at her blankly and turned back to Tallis. A fine trembling had seized his limbs and he started to drop to the floor.

Ron grabbed him around his waist just as his knees gave out. "Is it…"

"I think so," Hermione whispered back. "He's been too quiet for too long. I've been wondering when he would strike back."

"_So," Voldemort hissed. "This is the muggle who thought to take the life that belongs to me."_

_The death eaters around him shifted nervously. While their Lord couldn't feel the effects of the dementors they certainly could. The muggle had just been left in the tiny cell and they were all terrified that the Ministry would come to check on the fat muggle soon._

"_You're that Lord Volde-thingy, aren't you? Been trying to kill the whelp for years? Pleased to meet you," Vernon said, clearly not realizing the danger that he was in._

_Voldemort hissed in anger, his red eyes flashing. _

_  
Vernon took no notice, and simply plowed on. "Too bad you couldn't have enjoyed the brat first. Absolutely delicious."_

_The death eaters made a nearly collective gasp. The muggle surely couldn't be speaking of what they thought he was…could he? They had all read the article in the Prophet but had decided, nearly as one, that the report had been fabricated. There was no way that Dumbledore would have allowed his boy savior to be raped._

"_It appears that the rumors were true then," Voldemort said softly, his tone no less menacing for the lack of volume. "You raped a child?"_

"_Hardly rape when it's family, you know?"_

"_No, I suppose you would see it like that. Nothing less than incest for you, muggle."_

"_Incest? Now see here you freak—"_

"_Crucio."_

_A surge of satisfaction passed through those assembled. Voldemort's eyes glinted madly as he watched the fat muggle writhe and sob, taking an almost sexual pleasure in the muggle's pain. _

Ron swung his friend easily into his arms and walked quickly to the bathroom door, Hermione all but running to keep up with his long stride. She threw the door open in front of Ron and rushed over to the sink.

"What are you doing here?" Myrtle asked, for once not crying, her concern for Tallis outweighing her own self pity for once. "Is he alright?"

"He will be. Can you go to his father and tell him that we're down here? Bring Draco and Bill too if they're there," Hermione asked anxiously.

"I suppose. What's wrong with him?"

"We don't have time for this Myrtle," Ron snapped. "He needs protection and he needs to get to a comfortable, _safe_ place. Just go get Snape."

Myrtle eyed the small wizard who was now nearly convulsing in Ron's arms before leaving to track down the potions master.

"_Open_," Hermione hissed, finally understanding exactly why Tallis had insisted so vehemently that they learn the password.

Ron changed his grip on Tallis so that they were chest to chest, his arms wrapped tightly around him.

"He'll get hurt if we jump down like this," Hermione said softly.

"Do we have a choice? We can't stay where people might see him and make the connection. And the wards might help him. Look at him Mione…he's in so much pain. We have to help him."

Voldemort released the curse almost reluctantly. "It wouldn't do to break him too quickly. Oh no, my dear muggle, we will have many hours of play time ahead of us."

"_You hate the freak. Wanted him dead. Why would you care?"_

"_The boy and his death belong to me. Even the most foolish of my followers know better than to touch the boy. He is mine, whether it be to kill him or to bring him to my side."_

_He paused, running his fingers lightly over his wand. _

"_It seems, muggle, that you have done part of the job for me."_

_Vernon looked up in hope. Perhaps the insane freak would reward him now for treating the boy as he had. "I did?"_

"_You must have the child thoroughly convinced that muggles are the loathsome, odious creatures I know them to be. He will be far easier to bring to my side now. Dumbledore's treatment of him has only eased the way for me. Yes, the boy will be mine."_

"_So you _do _want him. I knew it. He's beautiful…so small and pliant…those eyes just begging you—"_

"_Harry Potter will stand at my side as a co-ruler, not lie on his back under me. I have no need for a plaything. No, muggle. While you were effective in showing him how worthless muggles really are, you took what did not belong to you."_

"_I don't understand."_

"_Of course you do not. You are a muggle. I assure you," he hissed with delight, "that by the end of the night you will."_

A whimper from Tallis decided them. Hermione wrapped her arms around the two, sandwiching Tallis in the middle. Hopefully they would be able to cushion the blows of the twisting pipes some. They had placed a few charms on the pipes to slow the trip down slightly but had never bothered to do anything more to alter the route to the Chamber. They both regretted their lack of foresight now.

With a deep breath they dropped down into the tunnel, gripping each other with a nearly painful grip. They needed to get to safety.

They knew that the Chamber would not only keep them away from prying eyes but it would also provide them with the additional safety of the ancient wards surrounding the rooms. While they could not in any way stop the vision they might lessen the pain that their friend was obviously feeling.

They landed at the bottom in a mess of limbs, with Ron luckily on the bottom. Hermione slid off as quickly as she could and helped Ron to stand up, once more cradling his friend's shaking form.

Both ignored the bruises that covered their arms and legs. The pipes had never been intended to be wide enough for three people to comfortably slide down together. Tallis was safe and seemed unharmed. That was all they could ask for.

"Hurry," Hermione urged unnecessarily, grabbing a torch to light their way rather than take the time to light the torches on the walls as they went along.

They made their way quickly toward the back, entering their rooms without bothering to activate the spells for the fairy lights that they had installed in their study room and emergency bedroom.

Ron eased Tallis onto his bed. "Pillows," he ordered shortly.

Hermione was already ahead of him and she tossed him the pillow from her own bed and ran over to Ron's bed to grab his. Ron stuffed the second one under Tallis' head and used the third to prop against the wall to keep him from injuring himself. The convulsions had eased but he was still shaking uncontrollably.

"What do you think he is seeing?" Hermione whispered.

"I don't know. Whatever it is, it can't be anything good."

"Bind him," Voldemort said, finally turning away from the muggle.

_The death eaters moved forward as one, each one applying his or her own binding spell. Most of them were shaking in anger at the thought of what this creature had forced on their one time enemy. No self-respecting witch or wizard would harm another in a sexual way for any reason. There simply was nothing that could ever make it worth the danger of the act, and the stigma should they be unfortunate enough to survive the experience._

"_I believe it is time for us to withdraw to a more…private location," Voldemort said, hissing in amusement as he caught sight of the wet patch on the front of the muggle's trousers._

The group touched a portkey and disappeared from the holding cell, leaving no trace of their presence behind.

Tallis' shaking stopped for a moment.

"Do you think it's done with?" Ron asked, reaching out to push the long hair away from his friend's face.

"I—" Hermione sighed as her words of hope were ripped from her mouth. Tallis had started shaking again. A fine sheen of sweat appeared on his brow, "Let's slip him out of his robes. His shoes too. He could hurt himself with too much constricting him. I'll bring over blankets if he looks like he needs them."

Ron nodded and started undoing the clasps on the green robes.

The group reappeared in a damp dungeon.

_Vernon looked around himself, his beady eyes darting around furiously. "What have you done you freak?" he managed to get out, struggling with all his strength in the too-tight bindings. He quickly tired himself._

"_I am giving you your just reward. It appears that the Ministry is too scared to give you what you deserve so I will do so for them."_

"_Reward?" Vernon asked, visibly calculating what wonderful gift this man would give him. He was obviously wealthy, if his title was anything to go by. One was not a 'Lord' for nothing, after all._

"_Oh yes, muggle. You see, they knew what you deserved but they did not have the stomach to give it to you. You may consider yourself lucky that I am not damned with their sense of morality."_

"_Er…morality?" Vernon asked blankly. This conversation was proceeding far too quickly for his liking. How was a man to keep up? He kept being pushed from punishment to reward to…damn! it was so confusing!_

"_Ah, it seems you have heard of the word," Voldemort said with no little amusement. "You see, while the Ministry has decided that life in Azkaban was punishment enough for you I have determined that it is not nearly enough to atone for your sins."_

"_Sins?" _

"_Even discounting the rather unspeakable sins you committed against the boy, you still deserve to be punished for your sins against my. You do not steal from the Dark Lord and escape with your life."_

"_What have I ever stolen from you?"_

"_The boy's life."_

"_But you were going to kill him anyway!" Vernon protested._

"_Precisely. I laid claim to that boy's life before he was even born. You dared to touch what was mine, and now you will suffer for it. Crucio."_

_Vernon screamed unabashedly, his heavy limbs fighting the bindings._

_He panted for breath for a few minutes after the curse was finally released. "I don't understand. I thought you said that I had done your job for you, or some such rot? That you were pleased?"_

"_Silence, fool." _

_Vernon cowered back, for the first time wishing that his considerable girth was somewhat lessened so he could stand a better chance of hiding._

"_What I said was that you managed to show the boy how truly useless muggles are…how much they crave violence and torture that wizards would never dream of…that all muggles need to die."_

"_I…what?" he said stupidly._

"_You managed to take the last, best hope of the wizarding world and turn him into…me," he hissed, laughing aloud when he saw the horrified expression on his face._

"_Boy?" Vernon asked, terrified to think that this snake-like creature standing before him could be his beautiful nephew._

_Voldemort laughed harder. Muggles. They were barely worth torturing. They always took things so literally. "Crucio," Voldemort said lazily._

_When he deemed the muggle ready to comprehend him again, he continued his explanation. "Stupid muggle. You managed to turn a boy who was all light and goodness into a creature that could very easily become the next Dark Lord. You brought out the darkness that had been buried within him. You made it possible for him to hate."_

"_Everyone hates," Vernon snapped, irritable from the prolonged torture. He immediately regretted his words._

"_And you made it possible for the boy to hate every single creature of your kind. Congratulations, muggle. You managed to end the war before it even started. The light has been left without their mad leader, without their much-abused figurehead, without _anything_. The boy will come to my side and we will rule the world before we are finished."_

"_The boy is dead! I killed him myself."_

"_You would think that, wouldn't you?" Voldemort said, smirking at the cowering muggle. "Amuse yourselves," he said to the Death Eaters before moving to sit down and watch the show._

"How long has he been in this one?" Severus asked, his fear evident in his voice.

"About forty five minutes," Hermione said, dipping a cloth in a bowl of water again to wipe Tallis' forehead.

"It's never been this long before," Ron muttered. "Never this long."

"What do we do?" Draco snapped impatiently.

"Nothing!" Ron snapped back.

"Ronald," Hermione warned, her voice making it clear that they needed to stop attacking each other.

"Sorry Weasley."

"Sorry," Ron muttered back.

"There's nothing we can do, Draco," Bill finally answered Draco. "The vision must play itself out. We cannot do anything for him but be here when he wakes up."

"I thought he didn't have visions anymore. I thought you did something to the scar," Draco said turning to Severus, his confusion evident.

"I moved the scar but I had no hope of destroying the connection. If it were that easy don't you think I would have done that years ago?" Severus sighed, trying to calm himself. "He's had a few small visions earlier in the summer but nothing noteworthy. The Dark Lord has been all but silent since Harry Potter disappeared."

"But occlumency…" Ron's objection faded out as he saw the sneer on Severus' face.

"Occlumency prevents the Dark Lord from seeking information in my son's mind. It does nothing to prevent a vision like this. Their minds are irreparably connected. No amount of occlumency can prevent this."

Ron's shoulders slumped once more.

"So we wait it out?" Draco asked softly.

"We wait it out."

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A/N: Part 2 to come soon (I hope).


	68. He Knows

A/N: Not quite sure why my italics got so messed up in the last chapter. Sorry if it caused any confusion. 

Believe it or not, this story _is_ drawing to an end…for real, this time. I'm thinking that it will ultimately be around 75 chapters in total. I have it all mapped out, now it is just a matter of writing it.

Thank you for all of the wonderful and inspirational reviews!

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Chapter 68 

Tallis sat up with a gasp, his heart pounding.

"Tallis? You're safe, you're in the Chamber," Bill said quickly, attempting to soothe his clearly distraught boyfriend.

"The Chamber?" Tallis repeated blankly.

"Yes love, the Chamber. Ron and Mione brought you down here yesterday evening and Severus, Draco and I came down shortly after."

"How…"

"Myrtle told us…and in their rush, Ron and Hermione left the entrance open. We slid down and got them to go back and shut it. Don't worry—Myrtle had been keeping an eye on it and no one else came into the loo while the entrance was unguarded."

"Where are they now?"

"Severus made them go back upstairs a few hours ago. If all six of us are missing at breakfast then people might figure out we are together. It is common enough for the four of us to eat together on weekends that no one will question our absence."

Severus woke up at the sound of their voices, pushing himself off of Ron's cot and moving over to the tiny cot Bill and his son were sharing. "Tallis. How are you feeling?"

He reached an anxious hand out to feel Tallis' forehead, taking his temperature the muggle way rather than pull out his wand. Right now, he needed to reassure himself that his son was awake, and well. Watching his son in the throes of such a lengthy vision was terrifying.

"I'm…I'm ok, Dad."

Draco sat up as well and leaned in toward Tallis' bed. "And now how about we try the truth?"

Tallis sighed. "He was so angry. And so happy. I've never felt such powerful and conflicting emotions from him before."

Severus nodded. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Tallis leaned back into Bill's chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. "He found out about Vernon's sentence. Life in Azkaban," he said, seeing the confusion on the faces of his family.

"How the hell did he know? We still haven't heard anything," Draco asked.

"It's likely in the papers this morning," Bill explained. "He must have someone on the inside in Azkaban and would have heard the moment that Vernon was incarcerated."

"So, he found out Vernon's sentence and he was happy?" Severus prodded, wanting to know more.

"No. He was furious about it." At his father's raised eyebrow he expanded. "He thought the punishment didn't come near to what Vernon deserved." He manfully ignored Draco's muttered 'It didn't' and pushed on. "He was livid about…he was so, so angry."

"What was he angry about?" Bill asked softly.

"He was so angry that Vernon raped me," Tallis finally said in a bare whisper.

The other three hid their surprise as best they could, that Tallis was finally ready to admit in words what his uncle had done to him.

"He thought that time in Azkaban couldn't pay back what he owed. And he was angry on top of that because Vernon had tried to kill someone that he had dibs on."

"Dibs?" Draco asked.

"Er…he had first right to kill me."

Draco nodded his understanding.

"You say 'tried to kill'…" Severus said, unable to even form the question.

"He knows," Tallis whispered.

"Everything?" his Father confirmed, his normally pale skin even chalkier at the thought.

"No…at least I don't think so. He knows Harry Potter is still alive. He knows it was a golem. He didn't make it clear whether he thought it was me."

"It will only be so long before he remembers Halloween," Bill murmured, stroking Tallis' hair to keep him calm.

Tallis gave a jerky nod.

"How does he know? How could he possibly know?" Draco demanded, jumping up from the cot and pacing around the small room.

"The scar?" Severus confirmed with Tallis.

Tallis nodded again. "Seems he's always known. He wasn't fooled for a second about the death. He decided to let events play out…to let the light tear themselves apart to make his own job easier."

"We played right into his hand," Severus murmured.

"We did the right thing," Bill argued back adamantly. "Dumbledore was a liability in this war. We all knew that. We killed a representation of Harry Potter but we did not remove the capability of killing Voldemort. Tallis can still kill him, he just won't do so in the name of the Boy Who Lived."

"He's right, Dad. The real reason Voldemort was so pleased was that he thought that he would be able to finally convince me to join him—to rule with him."

"He thinks you're going dark?" Draco gasped.

Tallis snorted. "Evidently. He said something to Vernon to the effect that he had treated me so poorly as a child that he had made me hate all muggles. Apparently he thinks it is just one step from hating a single muggle to wanting to kill every single muggle in the world."

"Yes, well the Dark Lord was never known for his rationality," Severus said, smiling at his son. He was relieved to see a bit of light return to Tallis' eyes, even if it was by making fun of his previous master's reasoning abilities.

"So what now?" Bill asked.

"He's going to try to recruit me. They're searching for me, even as we speak."

"He's that sure you'll side with him?" Draco asked.

"He thinks that we planned this all as a way to get rid of Dumbledore and make it easier for Harry Potter to switch sides in the war. He sees this as a gift from Harry Potter to himself as a sign of goodwill, and evidence that Harry is eager to make an alliance with the dark. He's taking it as such, at least. Voldemort is convinced that the entire situation was designed to ease Harry's transition into leading the Death Eaters by his side."

"And there was no mention of Tallis Snape during this?" Severus asked anxiously.

"None. He didn't mention you or me. But Bill's right. It'll only be so long before he remembers what I did on Halloween and makes the connection."

"It's not like Harry Potter was known for raising people from the dead, Tallis," Draco said sarcastically.

"No, but the impossible did have a way of becoming possible around Harry Potter," Tallis explained patiently.

"So what are we going to do?" Bill asked.

"There's not much more we can do. I already stay on campus at all times. I am nearly always with an escort of some sort when I'm in the halls. What else can I do? Anything more conspicuous will just make it easier for him to make the connection."

"I will request some additional help of Slytherin House," Severus said firmly. At his son's skeptical expression he explained. "All of them have turned away from the Dark. Very few of them wish to side with the light, but none of them would ever do anything to hurt you."

"You're not thinking of telling them, are you?" Tallis asked, horrified.

"No, I will merely mention that I want them to keep an eye out for my son. They've been doing that on a more relaxed basis since that wretched Ravenclaw started harassing you, but I will simply request that they step up the protection."

"I can't have a whole school as a body guard," Tallis protested. "Voldemort would notice in a heartbeat."

"They're Slytherins, Tallis. Have you noticed them guarding you up until now?" Draco asked. He had been in charge of a major portion of the 'protect Tallis' movement in his house.

Tallis thought for a moment and slowly shook his head. "No, I guess I didn't. Are you sure?"

"Has that boy ever been able to approach you again? Or has any other young man harassed you for that matter?" Severus asked patiently.

"No…I just thought he stopped being interested."

Bill snorted quietly.

"I can protect myself damn it!" Tallis protested, irritated that the other three men seemed to think that he needed school children to stay safe. "I'm not some helpless damsel in distress who needs some big tough man to protect me. I don't need their help."

"I don't doubt that son. I just feel better with more eyes watching out for you. Don't worry, it will be very inconspicuous. They will mainly run interference to keep other students from touching you. If the Dark Lord does find out who you are he'll do anything he can to get at you, even if it means planting a portkey on a student to get you out of the safety of Hogwarts."

Tallis nodded slowly, calming down. He could see the sense in that. "What are you going to tell them though? Why will they think they're doing this?"

"They'll be doing this because their head of house asks it of them," Severus replied.

"And because they all love you," Draco said, smirking. "You've won them all over. Must be your purty eyes," he drawled.

"Shut up," Tallis said harshly, a smile breaking through and utterly ruining the effect.

"Whatever the reason, love," Bill said, "they will be willing to help keep you safe. Slytherins protect their own. We've all known that from day one. They see you as theirs now and will do what it takes to keep you safe."

"Are you going to tell us more about what you saw?" Draco asked eagerly. "What did the Dark Lord do to the muggle?"

Tallis shuddered as a vision of his uncle's broken body flashed before his eyes.

Severus glared at Draco for asking the question. Whatever his son had seen last night had not been pretty, of that much he was certain.

"He…was really angry Draco," Tallis finally said. "He made sure Vernon understood that."

"Is he dead now?"

Another shudder wracked Tallis' small frame as he remembered the crunch of the breaking bones and the smell of the blood as the Death Eaters literally peeled strips of skin from the rotund man. "No," he whispered. "They healed him when he was too far gone."

The three men sat in shocked silence for a moment. They had all assumed that due to the sheer length of the vision that the muggle had died at the end.

"I'm sorry Tallis," Severus said finally. "I know you'll be seeing them play with him for a while longer."

"I'm not sure if I will again. I was sucked into the vision because Voldemort's feelings were so incredibly strong and unguarded. He knew I would be pulled in and he wanted Harry Potter to see it—as a gift of sorts to lure him into an alliance. I doubt his feelings will run so high a second time around."

Severus started praying that the bastard's overworked heart would give out on him soon. Someone that out of shape couldn't possibly last long as the Dark Lord's favorite plaything.


	69. No More Time to Plan

A/n: I know it has been an obnoxiously long time since I last posted. I just wanted to make sure I had it all worked out in my head how this should happen before I posted something. Sorry about that! 

Enjoy!

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Chapter 69 

Tallis faced the classroom with relief. This would be the last time he would ever have to teach a Transfiguration class.

It hadn't been as bad as he had expected, but he still thought that having an apprentice teach the seventh years was incredibly thoughtless and unfair to the students. Now they could at least finish their year with a proper professor. In the end, he had only had to teach them for seven weeks, before Minerva was able to find a full time replacement.

He had just broken the news to them and they were not taking it well.

"Who exactly _is_ this new professor?" Draco asked snidely. He was not looking forward to losing his friend as a professor.

"Madame Renier," Tallis repeated. "She is one of the foremost masters in the field of transfiguration today. She has agreed to finish the school year and, if she enjoys the position, she will remain for another few years."

"Is she an animagus?" a Ravenclaw asked. "All of the best witches and wizards are."

Tallis rolled his eyes. "If the ministry records are to be believed, only a fraction of one percent of witches and wizards ever achieve the full transformation. Perhaps you should find another method by which to measure your new professor."

"Are you saying she isn't?" a young woman asked, scandalized.

None of the students officially knew that he was an animagus, but they seemed to have taken it as read that he was. What story the students had come up with for why it was a secret was completely unknown to Tallis, and he had no interest in investigating the rumor mills of Hogwarts. Whatever story they had come up with, they didn't harass him to show them his form, so he didn't particularly care.

Tallis sighed. "I have no idea. It is rather her own business, is it not? Now, perhaps we could return to today's lesson so she does not find you horribly behind, come Monday."

The class groaned as one, but the pulled out their books as instructed and got ready to work on transfiguring furniture.

They had barely begun their work when someone knocked at the door, their urgency evident in the very pounding of the fist.

Tallis looked up, startled. He waved his wand absently at the door, swinging it open with alarming force.

His eyes widened as he took in Ron and Hermione's pale faces.

"They've taken him," Ron stuttered out. "He went out to the pub for lunch and didn't go back. They must have got him there."

The world collapsed. His mind melted and burned and flooded. His body tingled with death and throbbed with life. In that one, black moment, everything froze in its place and everything came into being, all at once.

"How long?" Tallis asked quietly.

"Not an hour since."

Tallis gave a jerky nod. He stared blankly at the doorway, not taking in the sight of his friends.

Bill. Gone.

The words refused to even be linked in his mind, much less by his tongue.

Bill. Gone.

His past and his future—his _everything_. The man who knew him as Harry Potter but who loved him as Tallis Snape. The man who knew his love so completely that he was completely unaffected by his lover's abrupt change in appearance and name.

The man who made him a whole person, and who then taught him how to be whole on his own.

The man who taught him how to love. To live.

His strength and his weakness.

Gone.

Tallis straightened up, squared his shoulders and walked out of the classroom.

The students stared at each other in wonder for a moment, before breaking into wild gossip.

Draco jumped up and followed his friend and the two Gryffindors down to the dungeons. "Do you think _he_ knows?" he whispered to Hermione.

"He must. Why else would he take Bill, of all the Weasleys? If he were merely trying to flush out Harry Potter he would have gone for Ron or Ginny. Maybe even the twins. Not Bill though."

Tallis ignored their whispers and walked purposefully toward the door to the potions classroom. He opened it immediately, not even bothering to knock.

Severus looked over to the doorway, the color draining from his face as his eyes met with his son's.

Tallis opened his mind up fully to his father, unable to even say the words aloud.

Severus visibly flinched as he was flooded with snatches of the scene in which Tallis learned that Bill had been taken. Worse than the memories though, were the numbing despair, the terror, the self doubt, the…the _relief_ that the prophecy was nearly complete.

His son forcibly regained control and closed his barriers again, his slim form still vibrating with desperation.

"Class dismissed," Severus bit out, before leaving the classroom. The students stared at the empty doorway in shock, before chattering loudly about what had happened.

Father and son walked side by side to their rooms, a new purpose leading them. They entered their chambers and proceeded to Severus' room without pause.

"What are they doing? Are we going to find Bill?" Ron asked.

Draco pushed past them and into his godfather's bedroom.

He watched in silence as the two Snapes stripped methodically out of their clothing and pulled on more battle appropriate clothing. Ron and Hermione joined him at the door, watching the men dress in silence.

"You can't think to go after him," Hermione said, finally understanding the purpose with which the Snapes had returned to their rooms.

Severus nodded and handed his son some black slacks, before he started donning his own.

"Do you think to become invisible?" she said, the sarcasm heavy in her voice. "Do you think to become a legion of men in time to win this battle?" her voice shook with anger and fear. She could not bear to lose both of these men, as well as Bill.

Severus handed Tallis a dark shirt, their hands meeting briefly. In that moment Tallis felt his strength return to him, and his resolve. His fear did not leave him, it was merely bolstered by a new, clearer sense of purpose.

"Do you even have a plan?" Draco snapped. "You're being a fucking Gryffindor. You're just going to run into this, blind, aren't you?"

Tallis stopped dressing and turned to his friend. "What do you believe that my father and I do every day when we are together? What precisely do you believe happens during these times?"

Draco stared at him, mouth agape. "I…I always assumed you chatted about your students and your friends and Bill."

"We are in the midst of a war, Draco," Tallis said softly. "No, I do not have time to chat about my students or my friends. I have never had that luxury." He turned his attention back to dressing himself, trying to calm his violently shaking hands.

Draco nodded in understanding of the statement as well as understanding of what Tallis had implied. He studied his friend closely as his mind turned over the possibilities. He pushed away from the door and started fastening the small buttons on Tallis' shirt when he noticed that his hands were shaking too much to manage. "There won't be a battle, will there?" he asked softly.

"No," Severus replied. "There will be no battle."

"You'll not give yourselves up, will you?" Ron asked anxiously. "You need an army with you, to protect you and ensure that you can make it to Voldemort to fight. There's no use in going there by yourself. You'll be dead before you even enter his headquarters."

"This is the end, Ron," Tallis said hoarsely. "No legion of soldiers will change this. It comes down to only the two of us."

"We're coming with you," Hermione said firmly.

Tallis accepted the battle robes from his father, the robes heavy with spells. "No, Mione."

"You'll need us, mate," Ron added. "You'll need all the help you can get."

"I'll have my father. That is help enough."

"The two of you cannot take on Voldemort and all of his Death Eaters!" Hermione exclaimed.

Tallis turned away and fastened the robes at his chest, before stepping over to the closet with his father to accept a few weapons. They both knew better than to weigh themselves down with useless weapons. It would be no toy, no wonderful artifact or dangerous weapon that would destroy Voldemort now.

"I do believe that is precisely what they mean to do," Draco said calmly.

"How can you be so calm! How can you allow them to go to their deaths!" Hermione snapped.

"They are not going to their deaths," Draco said calmly. "They have a plan, and a back up plan, if I'm not mistaken."

Severus' short nod confirmed it, as he handed his son a small dagger. It was lightweight enough to be nearly unnoticeable but it could prove to be needed during the hours to come.

"What plan? You always include us in your plans," Ron said, confused. "We're a team, the three of us."

"Not this time, mate," Tallis said quietly.

"We could come with," Hermione suggested hesitantly.

"Look at us, Granger," Draco snapped. "Do you honestly think we would be anything more than a liability if we went with them?"

"We could help," she said, although self doubt was creeping into her voice. "We've trained with Tallis for years."

"And we're still school kids. This isn't a game, Granger. You can't call a bloody time out when you're tired, or scared or when you want to look up a spell."

"I know that!" she all but screamed.

Severus broke his silence. "If you forced your presence on my son at this point, he would waste countless minutes worrying about you, about protecting you when you cannot protect yourself. And count on it, Miss Granger, you cannot protect yourself—not at the level you will have to do to survive this."

"And if we choose to come along and fight for as long as we can—as long as we can survive?" Ron asked.

"When you die, my son will be distracted from his purpose. Right now, he is evenly matched against the Dark Lord. A single distraction would destroy him. And his Death Eaters know that."

"Then what will you be if not another distraction?" Hermione asked, not willing to give up yet.

Tallis turned to her, all fear gone from his face and replaced by a calm, unmovable faith that he was following the only path open to him. "I go into this fight, prepared to lose everything. I go there, knowing that Bill might already be dead. I go knowing that my father might die trying to defend my. I go knowing that I might die."

"Then why not let us go with you?" Hermione asked through her tears.

"Because there would be no 'maybe' for you. You would die, and it would destroy me."

"What will you do if you find Bill already dead?" Draco asked softly.

Tallis closed his eyes for a moment.

"What will you do if your father dies?"

Tallis opened his eyes, all trace of emotion gone.

"Leave us," Severus said softly but firmly.

Hermione let out a choked sob but nodded, throwing her arms around Tallis. "I love you. Come back to us."

Ron wrapped his arms around both of them, resting his head on top of his friend's dark head. "Come home," he whispered.

The two reluctantly let go of their friend and stepped into the sitting room.

Draco looked at the two Snapes. "We will be waiting for you at the Manor."

Severus nodded his understanding.

"I will see you there tonight," he said firmly, refusing to say goodbye.

Severus nodded once more. "When we meet again."

Draco stepped into the sitting room to join the two Gryffindors. The three held onto Draco's portkey and blinked from sight, ready to start awaiting the Snape's return.

Severus and Tallis walked through the hallways and toward the front gates of Hogwarts. They stood in front of them for a moment, not moving.

"Are you ready?" Severus asked quietly.

Silence.

"No."

The two stood in silence for a few moments. Severus did not bother to offer empty words of comfort or platitudes. Both Snapes knew how useless they would be right now.

"Are you ready?" he asked again, his intonation the same.

Silence.

"Yes."

Severus reached out and opened the gate.


	70. Alliance

A/N: Er…yes, it really has been only a tiny but less than six months since I last posted. Not much of an explanation to give you guys. Sorry about that! And I will try to post the next chapter soon, since I leave this at a bit of a cliffie.

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Severus and Tallis walked through the hallways and toward the front gates of Hogwarts. They stood in front of them for a moment, not moving.

"Are you ready?" Severus asked quietly.

Silence.

"No."

The two stood in silence for a few moments. Severus did not bother to offer empty words of comfort or platitudes. Both Snapes knew how useless they would be right now.

"Are you ready?" he asked again, his intonation the same.

Silence.

"Yes."

Severus reached out and opened the gate.

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Chapter 70

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Severus pushed the gate open, the hinge creaking with the weight of the ancient door. Both Snapes stepped through as one, allowing the gate to swing shut behind them. It locked itself automatically with an ominous clank.

Severus looked down at his son, and both of them lifted their hoods simultaneously, making it impossible to make out their faces.

"Get ready," Tallis said quietly.

Severus pulled out a pair of thin, black leather gloves, pulling them on his left hand and then his right hand. He carefully smoothed out the supple leather and adjusted his cuffs so that every inch of his hands and wrists were covered. His hands restlessly moved up to his throat, ensuring that his robes were fully fastened. His hands rested at his side again, ready to continue.

Tallis eyed his father's movements carefully, ensuring that he was completely protected. With a grim nod, he muttered a long string of parseltongue.

Severus lifted his hand to shield his eyes for a moment from the blinding silver light. "Shall we?" he asked quietly, looking at his son once more.

Tallis nodded and stepped closer to his father, who automatically wrapped his arms around his son's shoulders. Tallis hugged him close, burying his face in his chest. With a brief thought, he tucked one leg around his father's as well, seeking to eliminate any possible space between the two of them.

"Are you ready?" Tallis asked.

Severus rested his head on top of his son's dark hair. "Yes," he said, grasping his son more tightly. This was in some ways the riskiest aspect of their plan.

Without another word, Tallis concentrated his magic and apparated both of them through the unbreakable wards of Hogwarts and into the equally unbreakable wards of his enemy.

The two clutched each other for a brief moment, neither one of them quite able to believe that they had made it safely. With a shuddering breath, Tallis loosened his hold on his father and stepped back.

Both men turned toward the mansion that Voldemort had assumed as his seat of power. The building itself reeked of black magic and the Dark Arts. Now they had but two options. They prayed that the first plan would work, and were fully resigned to the fact that they might need to implement the second plan. They were now far beyond the point of no return. There was no undoing this now, no going back. They must move forward, one way or another.

A dark form approached them at a quick pace. Severus took a half step behind his son, ready for either one of their prepared scenarios.

"Identify yourself," the Death Eater shouted as he drew closer.

Tallis spoke, his voice silky and calm. "Lord Voldemort is expecting me. We are old friends, and I have come to his aid."

"Give me your name and I will see if the master wishes to grant you an audience."

"He has been awaiting my presence for nearly sixteen years," Tallis said smoothly. "He will be ill pleased with an additional delay."

"Who is that with you?" he asked, squinting into the darkness.

"My companion," Tallis replied. "You will let us through now." He released one of the holds on his powers, allowing the Death Eater to feel his magic roiling beneath the surface, barely restrained.

"Yes sir," he stuttered. "Right away."

The Death Eater escorted the two of them into the house and through dim hallways before being confronted by two more Death Eaters.

"Who do you have there?" one of the new arrivals asked.

"Someone to see the master," he replied.

"And do these gentlemen have names?" the third Death Eater asked, reaching for his wand. Severus immediately recognized Lucius's voice.

"The master is expecting them, they said."

"And you brought them into our stronghold on their word alone?" Lucius asked incredulously.

Three wands were instantly trained on the two Snapes. Tallis narrowed his eyes at the irritation. No less than he expected though. He reached out a single hand and stunned one of them before he could even blink.

Severus immediately enganged one of the other Death Eaters, leaving Lucius for Tallis to deal with. Severus killed his opponent with a quick killing curse, and watched in silence as his son stopped Lucius' heart with a wandless, silent spell.

"That was easy," Severus remarked in a low voice. "Too easy."

"It was fortuitous," Tallis remarked calmly. "It would not do to murder my own soldiers."

Severus looked around himself for a moment and nodded his understanding.

They approached the large double doors slowly, once again preparing themselves for what lay ahead. Tallis lifted a shaking hand to the door. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, steadied his hand, and then pushed open the door.

A cold voice greeted them. "So, you have finally come to my side, my friend," Voldemort said.

Tallis nodded. "You spoke truth when last we met," Tallis said calmly.

"Yes, I did. And I started a furor unlike anything I ever could have imagined," Voldemort replied, speaking of the frenzy that followed his Halloween accusations that Harry Potter was abused by his family.

"All for the greater good," Tallis said, his voice devoid of emotion. "The muggles needed to be destroyed. You provided me the vehicle with which to do it."

"I only wish I could have brought forth the information earlier. If I had only known, I would have taken you from them earlier, and raised you myself. No wizard child should be exposed to such atrocities."

"No, they should not," Tallis agreed easily.

"When I discovered their treatment of you, I knew that you would come to my side."

Tallis dipped his head in acknowledgement.

"The Court did not punish the man appropriately. I have dealt with him for you."

"It is most kind of you to do so. Unfortunately, his very presence repels me, and I would not have wished to deal with him myself."

"As is to be expected," Voldemort said gently. "I would not have expected you to wish to punish him. Some ghosts are too difficult to fight off."

"Yes," Tallis agreed. "What of the woman and child?"

"I have my plans," Voldemort said with a small smile. "When you are ready, we will proceed with them. I believe that you might enjoy partaking in their punishments."

Tallis nodded. "Of course. You know me better than I know myself," he said, bemused.

"I had feared for a while that you would be displeased that I revealed the muggles' mistreatment of you to the world."

"I was," Tallis said candidly. "But it turned out brilliantly in the end. Punishment for the muggles. The virtual death of the one who placed me there. The ruination of Hogwarts. It will be a simple matter now to take over the Wizarding World. Who left is there to fight?"

"Precisely. Although I do regret the unfortunate murder of your dear father. You remedied that well enough though."

Tallis took a few more steps further into the room, his father following close behind him. "Yes, that was not well planned, although hardly your fault. I have already reprimanded him for you. As any proper vassal, he ought to have presented his plan to you first. You could not have known that he had a greater strategy at work. Who but Severus Snape could have brought the Boy Who Lived to the Death Eaters?"

Voldemort nodded. "You are wise, my friend."

Tallis heard a chain rattling off to the side, and he turned his head for a brief moment. The sight that met his eyes made his breath catch. "Why have you chained my lover to the floor?" he asked mildly.

"I was tired of waiting for you to come to me, so I decided to encourage your arrival. Then the irritating boy wouldn't stop fighting. Killed two of my soldiers."

"Unfortunate, that. Once again though, much of this could have been avoided by a few words. I had planned to come soon anyhow, but had preferred to complete the year at Hogwarts. There are many there who are wavering now, having been so inured with the previous Headmaster's false words. My father and I had hoped to bring some more soldiers to your side. Now we risk exposing ourselves, and losing our positions."

Voldemort sat in silence for a moment. "Did anyone see you leave?"

Tallis narrowed his eyes. "Do you think that either my father or I could be caught if we did not wish it?"

Voldemort inclined his head. "Of course not."

"Let us speak of alliance, of ending this war," Tallis said formally. He hoped that Voldemort would recognize the words of truce.

"Let us end this war," Voldemort repeated. He stepped off of the small platform and away from his throne. Tallis stepped closer, so that he was only a few feet from Voldemort. "What are your conditions?"

Tallis thought for a moment. "Very few. I care little for the world that Dumbledore created."

"And muggles?"

Tallis looked him in the eye. "Kill them."

Voldemort laughed gleefully. "We are truly kindred spirits, my dear boy. You are practically my son. I believe that I shall adopt you, and name you my heir."

Tallis' eyes glinted with repressed emotion. "My father lives yet," he reminded Voldemort mildly.

"That can be remedied," he replied, moving toward his wand.

"Touch my father and all alliances are ended," Tallis said icily. "I will serve as your heir but not as your son."

Voldemort looked from father to son for a few moments. "As you wish," he said, bowing in agreement. "Shall we end this?" he asked, stepping closer and holding out his hand.

"Yes," Tallis said firmly, meeting him step for step. "From the ashes we shall create a new world."

"So may it be," Voldemort said with a smile.


	71. Visions of Other Worlds

A/N: Well, here is an ending of sorts. There WILL be at least one (and possibly two or three) epilogues. Yes, this is the fic that just won't end! I always hate it when fics end…at the place where this one ends. I don't want to reveal too much! Read and enjoy.

And THANK YOU to all of the loyal readers who have kicked my ass into gear more than once during this long journey. I appreciate every single review that has been left. You have all inspired and guided me more than you could know.

I promise to get the epilogues posted ASAP. Of course, I haven't written them yet, but I at least know what I want to have happen!

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LAST TIME…

"_Shall we end this?" he asked, stepping closer and holding out his hand._

"_Yes," Tallis said firmly, meeting him step for step. "From the ashes we shall create a new world."_

"_So may it be," Voldemort said with a smile_

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Chapter 71

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"You cannot mean to do this!" Bill gasped, staring at his lover in horror.

Tallis halted his step toward Voldemort. "Why?" he asked simply.

"You can't do this," he begged. "You…you forgive everyone. You can't turn, just because of your Aunt and Uncle."

Tallis sneered at him. "Just because? _Just because?_ You act as though they took away my favorite toy, or refused to buy me candy. The muggles tore every shred of dignity from me. They destroyed me. They not only stripped me of my humanity through their barbarity but they _delighted_ in their every pain-inducing action."

"But you cannot mean to—"

"For years I have had this pressing on me without being capable of speaking of it to a single soul. The shame and silence were forced on me by the very creatures who sought my destruction. I have endured their punishments…their _pleasure_ again and again while knowing that I was strong enough to tear them to pieces, yet too weak to fight back. Now the strength has come to me, and you would deny me this right?"

"Then do it. Kill your family. You know I would hardly stand in your way," he pleaded, his eyes shifting to Severus for a brief moment. "But the other muggles? You can't possibly be in your right mind," he finally whispered. "You can't possibly mean to kill all of the muggles."

"My _family_," Tallis said acidly, "were not unique among muggles. They are savages, all of them. Do you truly believe that the other muggles did not know what happened in that house? Do you?"

Bill shook his head slowly.

"They are nothing better than animals, and they shall be treated as such. Voldemort has given me the strength to fight against my prior captors. He has given me the strength to open my eyes." He turned back to Voldemort, the pride shining from his eyes. "I have been reborn."

Voldemort smiled down at him. "This rebirth is true," he murmured. "I thought it to be so before…you seemed sincere…but I harbored my doubts. Such a change."

"You, my dear friend, are responsible for it all. You have given me strength, and the ability to fight for what is right. You have allowed me to fight for _myself_. Without you, I would never have been able to see muggles as they truly are."

"And you understand the crusade," Voldemort said factually.

"This has never been about the muggles," Tallis said knowingly. "This war is of far greater import. Muggles are but a stumbling stone on the way to greatness. Standing together, we will eradicate them, and we will move on to build a greater world."

Voldemort's smile grew. "My young heir," he said proudly. "Come, it is time for truce."

Tallis nodded solemnly and stepped closer. "May our alliance be the last such that this world needs. May the wizarding world never be in such a situation again, that two men must unite in order to save it."

"We will change the world," Voldemort whispered, extending his hand.

Tallis stepped closer, his small hand still close to his body, not yet willing to shake his new ally's hand.

"To the end," Voldemort said.

"To the end."

Tallis reached for his enemy's hand with his right hand, shaking it firmly.

Voldemort's smile stretched across his face as he shook hands, sealing the alliance.

"My Lord," Severus said softly from his left side.

Voldemort turned his head slightly to look upon his servant.

Before he could even lay eyes upon his potions master, Tallis gripped his hand more tightly, lifting his left hand up to caress Voldemort's cheek.

"Aveda Kadeva," he whispered.

As he whispered the words, he released all holds on his magic, all of the thin barriers that he had placed upon his tattoos to prevent him from killing everything he touched. As he whispered the deadly words, he turned his very body into a killing curse, the green light shining from his eyes as a blinding silver light emanated from every pore of his body.

The hand disappeared from his own blindingly-glowing hand. The fingers slipped from his grasp. The cheek fell from his fingertips. Tallis stood alone, all contact with the outside world torn from him as he shone still.

His control hung in the balance for an unending moment, as his mind fought to take control over the crackling, dancing power that skittered along his skin. The urge to give in to the power, to seize it, to become it, was overwhelming. He stood alone, and he gloried in the strength.

In his mind's eye, worlds flashed before him, each more glorious and more terrible than the one before. He saw himself, leading an army of wizards, each one marching mindlessly behind him to whatever fate decreed. He saw himself, seated in a throne as supplicants bowed before him, eager for his beneficence. He saw himself, stepping on the neck of his enemies, those who refused to bow down of their own will.

With a jolt, he recognized the man who stood at his side in each one of these visions. His own Bill stood there, unblinking, as Tallis moved through these dream worlds. His Bill. Tallis felt the magic begin to recede, and sanity regained some semblance of a his in his mind.

Bill standing beside him as he slaughtered one who defied him. Bill standing in front of him him, catching a traitor's blood in a deep bowl. His Bill standing to his side as he issued orders to burn down a school.

Bill. _His _Bill would not tolerate such a tyrant. _His_ Bill would never stomach such a creature as he had seen in his mad visions. He drew the magic back into his body some more, feeling the magic shaking at the confines of the barriers he had long ago built.

The visions fled more quickly now. A cool breath and a deep sigh of relief signaled the proper restoration of Tallis' internal balance. He drew more quickly on the power now, pulling back the deadly, silver glow. Yes, yes, he thought as he regained hold on himself. This is how it should be. This is the way that he was meant to be—this is who he was. Balance restored itself slowly, and the last traces of the visions fled.

As the light receded, Tallis blinked his eyes, trying to regain his sight. He stared down at his hands in shock, unable or unwilling to look down and see what had become of his enemy.

"It is done," his father said softly from his right shoulder.

Tallis nodded stiffly. "Is it certain?"

Severus moved closer to the corpse. There was no need to bend toward the rapidly decaying body to ascertain death, but he did so anyhow so that his son could be spared the grotesque duty. "The Dark Lord is deceased. His soul is no longer on earth." He slid his wand out from the holster quickly, and performed a silent incantation. "His body cannot be resurrected."

Tallis nodded once more, still staring at his hands. "Thank you. Thank you, Bill," he said softly.

Bill shrugged his shoulders, trying to ease the strain. Severus moved toward him to release him from the chains. "I know it wasn't part of the plan, entirely," he said, rubbing the feeling back into his wrists. "He didn't seem completely convinced before."

"You were right. I rushed it," Tallis said, his eyes still firmly planted on his hands. "I nearly destroyed us all. If he had harbored any doubts…"

"But he didn't, in the end. You had him completely convinced."

Tallis did not mention the fact that for a brief moment, he had nearly convinced himself. He drew back a shudder as the visions flashed once more before his eyes. To have so narrowly escaped such a fate…

"It was just as you said," Bill said, moving toward Tallis. "Never underestimate Voldemort's love of spouting off on his own cause. The only thing the fuck liked more than pureblood superiority tirades was an equally impassioned tirade by one of his own. You were brilliant," he whispered, standing as close to his lover as he dared.

"We need to leave," Severus said, eyeing the door nervously. "More Death Eaters might come. We were uncommonly lucky to have only encountered the few that we did."

Tallis nodded, but made no move to leave.

"It is over," Bill said quietly, reaching out a comforting hand and then removing it at the last moment. "It is over," he repeated. "Take off the protection spells."

Tallis froze for a moment, before nodding his assent and whispering the parseltongue release spell.

Bill ran his hand over Tallis' cheek gently. "We're safe now," Bill whispered in his ear.

"He took you from me," Tallis whispered. "I would destroy a world to get you back."

"And I would fight the world to get back to you," Bill said soothingly. "And here both of us are. There is nothing to fight anymore. We are safe," he whispered.

"I nearly destroyed it all," Tallis said, his voice cracking. "I nearly messed it all up. One little thing went wrong and I could barely function."

"The plan worked brilliantly," Bill said, trying to draw Tallis' attention away from his fear.

"I didn't plan for that. You weren't supposed to be _there_," he said, turning tearful eyes toward the chains. "You were supposed to be at my side," he argued, before flinching at his words. Merlin, would those words ever be the same for him again?

"It worked," Bill murmured. "We are all alive. We can ask for no more than that."

"Gentlemen," Severus interrupted. "The magical backlash of that spell will have drawn the eye no only of the Death Eaters but of the Ministry. We will be surrounded soon, by our enemies and by those who would try to unmask you," he said to Tallis. He knew that if his son was caught here, standing beside Voldemort's body, his identity would no longer be in question as the world would know him to be Harry Potter. All of their work would have been for naught, and the ruse would end.

"We must leave," Tallis agreed, finally waking up from his stupor.

"Can we apparate?" Bill asked wearily.

"Not without leaving behind some trace of our signatures," Severus said. "We must leave the grounds, at the very least, before we apparate. The further away that we can get the better."

Bill nodded. "I'll not get far," he said, still wincing as he attempted to bring the feeling back to his battered body. "I can make it further if I transform."

"A lion in Wales?" Severus asked dryly. "I'm sure the muggles will hardly notice."

"Not all of us are as lucky as you," Bill said with a smirk. Without another word, he shifted into his animagus form. A magnificent tawny lion stood next to Tallis.

Tallis shifted as well, his tiny ocelot capable of standing beneath the lion without even bending his head. The ocelot rubbed his head against the lion's leg, as much a hug for strength as for comfort. Severus nearly smiled, and then realized with a jolt that his reason for fighting his emotions for all of these long years was now gone. With a burst of laughter, he too shifted, his laughter turning into a joyous bark as a large Doberman joined the pack.

Taking the lead, Severus guided the other two from the room, seeking dark hallways and abandoned corridors to escape without notice. They moved swiftly through the building and onto the grounds, rushing for the wooded land that surrounded the vast open space.

Loud cracks indicated the presence of other wizards. The Aurors swarmed the building, all of them ready for battle, unaware of the great discovery within. The untrained ran immediately into the building, while those with more experience took a moment to take in the surroundings.

Kingsley Shacklebolt turned toward the trees for a brief moment, collecting his wits for the battle ahead of him. His eyes were immediately drawn to the brilliant green eyes that were glowing in the dark of night.

He took a step forward, unable to stop himself. "Harry?" his whispered.

Tallis blinked slowly at Kingsley, his hair standing on end in fright. After all of this, after all that he had done, it truly was over—the charade would end, and the world would know that Harry Potter lived. He shuddered at the thought of it.

He calmed as he felt Bill's strong legs move to either side of him, the lion standing over him in protection.

Kingsley's eyes swung up to meet the amber eyes of the lion, poised to fight. A low growl drew his gaze to the Doberman who stood at the lion's right side. He nodded in understanding. "Thank you," he whispered.

The animals melted into the night, disappearing into the trees to be seen no more.


	72. First Epilogue

Epilogue

Tallis moved quickly into the small examination room, his mind already leaving his last patient and focusing on the next one. A young boy, it would seem looking from the paperwork he had just been handed. Only two years old, and suffering from burns of some sort. This should be an easy healing session, and then he could take a short rest in the lounge with the other healers.

He paused for a moment, shocked by the appearance of the oldest Creevy boy, standing behind the small child, comforting him. Had that much time passed, that Colin Creevy had not only graduated but had time to father a child? A quick glance through the years confirmed that over four years had passed since the death of Voldemort. Merlin, how time had flown. Tallis was still surprised by how quickly the wizarding world insisted upon growing up though, in spite of the fact that they typically lived nearly twice as long as muggles. You'd think they would want to slow things down, take their time. But instead, most of his classmates had married immediately out of Hogwarts, and had started having children almost immediately.

At the last moment he remembered to look down at his chart, feigning the need to look up Colin's name. "Mr. Creevy. So good to see you again." He looked over at Colin, shocked to realize that he actually had to look up to meet the previously-tiny Colin's eyes. Merlin, it looked like he really was fated to remain the smallest Gryffindor, even if no one else really knew it.

"You as well, Healer Snape," Colin said with a smile, a hint of his prior adoration showing through, although now it was heavily tempered by age and maturity, as well as the fact that he was near the famous Healer Snape, and not the famous Harry Potter.

As a healer, Tallis had gained fame almost immediately, as details of how he awakened his father from a "coma" spread further and further into the healing community. This one time feat was followed by other remarkable healings during his mastery training. By the time Tallis was finished with the program, hospitals throughout the world were vying for his attention. In a move that surprised no one who knew him, he settled down in St. Mungo's Hospital, unwilling to leave his father and lover to move elsewhere. Since money held no lure for him, and fame would never appeal, he had no incentive to move to one of the more famous, well-funded hospitals in other areas of the world.

Tallis smiled. "It looks like young Nate has suffered some minor burns." He ran his hands gently over the affected areas, not yet channeling any magic through his hands. "I assume this is from your lab?" he asked, knowing that Colin was now employed as one of the primary photographers for the Daily Prophet. Although he didn't bother to subscribe to the paper, his friends kept him updated on his old classmates.

"Yes. Curious boy pulled the cauldron over to see what was inside. It was just some processing solutions – nothing too harmful, I think."

Tallis studied the boy in silence for a moment, making certain he had identified all of the magical and reactive ingredients in the potion that had caused the burns. Luckily, most of the damage had been due to the heat of the potion, rather than the ingredients, just as Colin had thought. He stepped back and reached his hand out to the child, holding it about two feet away, channeling his healing magic toward the boy.

Nate started to move toward the small healer, reaching up for his hand, but Colin grabbed him in time to prevent them from touching. By the time he had the child settled on the table again, Tallis had finished his work. "Sorry about that, sir," Colin said apologetically. "Nate's never been to a healer like you before."

Tallis smiled and nodded easily. "Not many have." He got that reaction a lot, and luckily the nurses had started to warn his patients not to touch him while he was healing. It had prevented many accidents, once the patients knew what to expect. Since all of the other healers at St. Mungo's needed to be touching their patients to be able to heal, the citizens of the magical community had no idea what to expect at first. Of course, there were other healers in the world who likewise could not touch their patients, but none of them were quite as extreme as Tallis – most of them held their hands about an inch or two away from the patient's skin. "How have you been doing since graduation? Still at the Prophet?"

Colin grinned, thrilled that Tallis knew where he worked. "Yes. They've given me another promotion. I'm in charge of the entire sporting department – both magical and muggle sports. Just did a game for the Chudly Cannons last week."

Tallis smiled. "Ron will be thrilled to hear it. He doesn't get to their games as much as he'd like, but he's there more than most."

"And how have you been, since the end of the war?" Colin asked hesitantly, uncertain if he should be asking the Healer such a question.

Tallis grinned. "Great. Bill and I have built a small home on the Snape grounds, and we're just a five minute walk from my father. It's nice to have the privacy though. Bill's still with Gringott's – he claims that they have the most interesting curses to work through, and for now he won't consider moving elsewhere for a more exciting job. And I love it, here at the hospital."

"You deserve it," Colin said. "You've done a lot for us. We can never repay you," he finished softly.

Tallis stared at him blankly. Could he know? Or was he just talking about how Tallis had healed Dennis' broken arm during his training, and this small healing session today? Surely he didn't know who Tallis used to be. Surely.

"If there's ever anything we can do, you know Gryffindor House will stand behind you, and help with whatever we can," Colin said.

The Gryffindors…. That could only mean one thing. Tallis nodded stiffly, still in shock. They knew? The Gryffindors knew?

"Come on, Nate, back to work," Colin said, turning back to his son, and effectively ending the eerie mood that had swept over the small room. "Well, see you around, Tallis. It was good running into you again."

Colin and his son disappeared down the hall, and Tallis shook his head to clear the surreal scene from his mind. All this time, and they had all known. He wondered for a moment who else knew, and if they would continue to keep his secret. He wondered what had given him away, and then immediately decided it didn't really matter. A smile found its way onto his face. They were Gryffindors. Of course they would continue to protect their own.

Skin DeepSkin DeepSkin DeepSkin Deep

Bill moved silently through the dusk, spotting his destination within only a few minutes of searching. He moved more quickly now, nervous, and eager to just get it out. He set the bottle of bourbon on the small table, making Severus look up from his book in shock.

"Out in the gardens without Tallis?" Severus asked in surprise. Although it was not unheard of for Bill to visit him alone, it was certainly rare.

"He's working the night shift, which is convenient because I needed to talk to you," Bill said, sinking into the seat at the other side of the wrought iron table.

Severus cocked an eyebrow in question, but did not say anything. Instead he focused on opening the fine bourbon and pouring two glasses.

"I've been with Tallis for seven years, now," Bill started, stumbling over his words in his nervousness.

Severus nodded, sensing with a sinking heart where this was leading.

"Now that Voldemort is dead, the muggles are dealt with, the Headmaster is safely locked into Benthams, and Tallis' identity seems to be safe, it seems time for us to make the next step. I would like to ask Tallis to marry me."

Severus sat in silence, turning over the words slowly. Although it was not completely unexpected, it did not mean that he was prepared for it. No father is ever prepared for their child to grow up and marry. Oh, he had tried to prepare himself for it last year when the boys built their own cottage on the Snape grounds, but he was seriously deluding himself if he thought that he was ready for…this.

Bill sat in silence, trying not to count the seconds and then the minutes as they passed.

"Tallis is my only child," Severus said slowly, stating the obvious in a manner that was usually repugnant to him. Bill simply nodded. "He is the sole heir to many powerful bloodlines. Both the Evans and the Snapes would die with him, as well as the Prince line, through my mother. It is unlikely in the extreme that I would ever have another child."

"You are yet young. You have many years yet to father a second child."

Severus narrowed his eyes in exasperation, his meaning quite clear. Bill nodded in acknowledgement of the intent – whether he was capable of fathering children was not the question. Severus Snape was a man who liked his solitude and who was unlikely to venture into society long enough to meet a second lover. The death of Narcissa Malfoy years earlier had cinched the deal. Severus was content with his life, and saw little reason to change it.

Severus continued. "There will be no more Snape heirs from me. Tallis is…everything," he said, the simple word carrying so many meanings that Bill needed to blink. As always though, Severus had managed to say precisely the right thing, with a certain economy of words that few others could match. "The Weasley clan was blessed with seven children," Severus continued, his hesitation to say the wrong words clear. "Seven chances to carry on the line."

Bill nodded, and poured both of them a second drink. He had been prepared for this, in spite of his token denial earlier. "I am the eldest son, but I am not needed in the way that Tallis is," he acknowledged. "My father's cousin bears the title in our family, and after him it will go to his son and then his granddaughter. It is very unlikely for the title to descend to our branch of the family." He paused for a long moment, choosing his words carefully. "And even were that day to come, Charlie would make a fine lord, if he chose to accept the title."

Severus looked up slowly, hesitantly meeting the eyes of the man he had long thought of as his son in law in practice, if not in actual fact. "You would give this up?"

"Without a second thought," Bill said adamantly. "If you were willing to accept me as a Snape, I would gladly become William Snape."

A hesitant smile found its way onto Severus' face. "The name becomes you." Bill grinned. "What will your parents say of this? It goes against all traditions – you are the elder, and the more dominant in the relationship. By rights, he should take your name."

"He is the more powerful of us, and his family has a more prestigious title. I think it was pretty evenly split, which way it should have gone. I know that typically age and dominance decides who takes the other's name, but it is not unheard of to allow something else to determine it. And I'm sure my family has been predicting this for many years now, although I have not discussed it with them yet. I wanted to get your permission, first."

"When will you ask him?"

Bill shrugged, at ease now that the largest stumbling block had been passed by. "I'm not sure. I want to wait until the time is right."

Severus nodded, trying to decide whether he should tell Bill what he had been working on for the past two years or if he should keep it to himself a little longer. The bright stars and heavily scented flowers seemed to encourage him to open up. "You know that there are potions to assist in planting a man's seed into a woman he has never been with, don't you? Muggles call it in vitro fertilization, I believe." Bill nodded. "I have been working on adapting the potion to blend the essences of two wizards, in a willing witch or muggle woman to carry the child."

"The child would have three parents?" Bill clarified, wanting to make certain that this potion wouldn't eliminate the need for a mother's genetic contribution entirely. That sounded too close to Dark magic, to toy with genetics in a way that would eradicate an entire bloodline from a child.

"In effect, yes. There is simply no way to do this without the woman's contribution."

"Hermione has offered to carry a child for one of us, when the time comes. Perhaps now the child can be from both of us." Bill smiled at the thought, although he knew it would likely be a few years before any of them were ready for it.

Severus nodded, and then raised his hand slightly to call for silence. In a moment Bill too heard the rustle of someone walking along the paths in the garden, and within moments Tallis appeared.

"Off already, love?" Bill asked, surprised to see him so early. He was glad he had not delayed going to Severus to talk, as he had wanted to do.

"It's a slow night. They told me to go home and they would floo me if they needed my assistance. It's a beautiful night," he said, sinking into the third chair, between his father and his lover. Severus poured him a small drink and set it near his hand, although he knew it was unlikely for his son to drink at all on a night when he was on call.

The three men sat in silence, enjoying the night calm.

"Minerva will be retiring at the end of the school year," Severus announced, breaking the still. "She wrote me today. Still seems to think I might want the position."

Tallis and Bill laughed quietly. She would never change. "That woman certainly had her delusions," Tallis said fondly. "At least she was able to get the school back into order, after the mess with the prior headmaster," Tallis said, having calmed down greatly in the intervening years. Although he had felt betrayed by her actions during the first year of his apprenticeship, he now understood better that she was just trying to make ends meet during a truly terrifying time. And she had done an admirable job getting the students straightened out, calmed down, and learning again remarkably quickly after the scandal with Dumbledore.

"I saw a posting today for a Healing Potions and Advanced Treatments conference in August. Do you want to go?" Tallis asked his father, changing the subject before they all descended into dark thoughts about the war. "Last year they had some interesting lectures." The hospital liked to send Tallis to these conferences because he could typically learn the new treatment just during the first demonstration, and would require no additional training like most of the other healers present. He could then return to the hospital and train some of the other healers in the new techniques.

"Where is this one?" Severus asked, hesitant to accept. Although he was in no way a recluse, he still only rarely left the grounds, and even then it was usually to go to one of a handful of locations, all of which were well known to him.

"It's in Sweden. I think you'd really like it."

"Are you presenting anything?"

Tallis shook his head. "I hate doing that. I'm just going to learn."

Severus nodded his head. As long as he could have Tallis with him the whole time, he wouldn't mind it _too_ badly. The last conference he had attended had been one that Tallis had presented at, and the other attendees had been constantly pulling Tallis away from him to question about his theories. It had been aggravating in the extreme, for both of them. "I suppose I could manage that."

"Mum's asked all of us over for Sunday dinner," Bill said, informing them of the invitation for the first time. "I think the twins might have an announcement to make. She sounded excited."

"I shall await the announcement with bated breath," Severus said dryly.

"D'you think they're opening another store?" Tallis asked sleepily, spinning the glass between his hands. "Or is Fred finally ready to announce an engagement with that young woman he's been dating?"

Bill shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea. I haven't talked to either of the twins in the last two weeks. Guess we'll see Sunday."

"The whole clan will be there?" Severus asked, his voice pained at the very thought of the chaos that would ensue with the burgeoning Weasley family.

Bill grinned, knowing that most of the irritation was put on. Severus loved the Weasleys in small doses. He loved feeling like part of a large family, and he loved that he was always included on any invite that Bill and his son received to any of the Weasley events. He would just never admit it. "Every single one. Even Charlie's coming in."

"I haven't seen Charlie since Christmas!" Tallis said, pleased to see his old friend. "It must be big news."

"We'll need to floo Draco and invite him. I haven't had time to write him a letter," Bill said. "I hope he hasn't made plans yet." Draco had been added as an honorary Weasley about three years ago, when his mother died and he started spending more and more time with his godfather and family. Like Severus, Draco complained every step of the way into the Weasley home, but unlike Severus, he was unable to hide his simple joy at finally finding a big, happy family to fit in with.

"As if Dray would ever skip a Weasley dinner," Tallis scoffed, and then yawned.

"Has he started dating anyone yet?" Bill asked, knowing that Tallis probably saw the young Malfoy lord more than anyone.

Tallis shook his head. "No. He seems content to be alone."

"There is nothing wrong with solitude," Severus said.

"Of course not," Tallis said easily. "I think he just needs a bit of time to himself, before he will be ready to be with someone else. He's kind of been eyeing up Hermione recently, if you noticed that at the last dinner."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "I had not, although they would make a fine couple."

"He even went to visit her at University. His first time at a muggle school. I'm sure it was enlightening," Tallis said with a snicker. From what Hermione had told him, Draco had a rather violent run in with an elevator (which _still_ wasn't working properly after the curses he had used on it) and had nearly been run over by a car. Not too bad, for his first solo foray into a muggle area.

"I had been so sure Ron and Hermione would wind up together," Bill said, his confusion with the situation evident.

Tallis and Severus laughed. "Those two were doomed from the start, and they both knew it. Besides, Ron's much better matched with Cathy," Tallis said, speaking of the muggle woman he had met while visiting Hermione at Oxford during her first year. Hermione had chosen to pursue a muggle college degree after finishing at Hogwarts, and she was still uncertain what she would do when she graduated at the end of the month. Her roommate, Cathy, had turned out to be just what Ron needed in a spouse, and they had clicked immediately, to everyone's satisfaction. The poor woman was almost constantly harassed by Mr. Weasley though, in his unending quest for information about the muggle world.

Tallis sighed in content and leaned over to rest his head on Bill's sholder. "I'm beat. Want to go to bed?" he asked sleepily.

Bill glanced over to Severus to make sure they were finished with their discussion. "Go on, you two. I'll straighten up here," Severus said.

"Night dad."

"Good night," Severus called out as Bill led his son away. He watched them disappear through the trees, his heart aching just a little bit. His little boy would be getting married.


End file.
